hal.science
Climate Regulation and Civil Society Activism
This paper investigates how public climate regulation shapes NGO activism against firms.
Using monthly data on NGO campaigns across 78 countries (2010–2023), we find that the enact-
ment of executive regulations significantly increases firm-targeted climate activism. Event-study
estimates show no anticipatory trends and reveal a persistent, rising response. Consistent with
our framework, the impact of regulation is larger in weaker enforcement environments and among
nationally oriented NGOs with the capacity to act on domestic institutions. Public regulation
thus mobilizes civil society as an informal enforcement layer, extending climate governance be-
yond formal state action.