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Thomas Lyon
Dow Professor of Sustainable Science, Technology, and Commerce, Faculty Director of the Erb Institute 2020-2023
On sabbatical Fall 2024–Winter 2025
Sustainable Systems
Climate + Energy
Water
Cities + Mobility + Built Environment
Office
6366 Ross (701 Tappan St.)
About
Tom Lyon is the Dow Professor of Sustainable Science, Technology and Commerce. His research and teaching interests include environmental information disclosure and greenwash; corporate environmental strategy; environmental NGOs; voluntary environmental agreements; government regulation of business; industrial organization; and energy and the environment.
Publications
- “Leadership Forum on Organizations and Sustainability: Taking Stock, Looking Forward.” (with Tobias Hahn, Jennifer Howard-Grenville, Mike Russo, and Judith Walls), Organization & Environment. 2021; 34(1): 3-17.
- “The Millennial `Meh’: Correlated Groups as Collective Agents in the Automobile Field,” (with A. Wren Montgomery and Kim Wolske), Journal of Management Studies, published online June 18, 2020.
- “Merchants of Doubt: Corporate Political Influence when NGO Credibility is Uncertain,” (with Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline), Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 2020, 29(2): 439-461.
- “Introduction to the Special Issue on `Social Movements and Private Environmental Governance’,” Organization & Environment, 2020, 33(1):3-6.
- “Understanding the Role of the Corporation in Sustainability Transitions,” (with Magali Delmas and John W. Maxwell), Organization & Environment, 2019, 32(2): 87-97.
- “A Theory of Multi-Tier Ecolabel Competition,” (with Carolyn Fischer), Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 6, no. 3 (May 2019): 461-501.
- “Salience Games: Private Politics when Public Attention is Limited,” (with Anthony Heyes and Steve Martin), Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2018, 88: 396-410.
- “Voluntary Cleanup Programs for Brownfield Sites: A Theoretical Analysis,” (with Allen Blackman, Kris Wernstedt and Haitao Yin), Environmental and Resource Economics, 2018, 70(2): 297-322.
- “CSR Needs CPR: Corporate Sustainability and Politics,” (with Magali Delmas, John W. Maxwell, Tima Bansal, Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, Patricia Crifo, Rodolphe Durand, Jean-Pascal Gond, Andrew King, Michael Lenox, Michael Toffel, David Vogel, and Frank Wijen), California Management Review, 2018, 60(4): 5-24.
- “Optimizing Eco-Efficiency across the Procurement Portfolio,” (with Rylie E.O. Pelton, Mo Li, and Timothy M. Smith), Environmental Science & Technology, 2016, 50(11): 5908-5918.
- “Greenwash vs. Brownwash: Exaggeration and Undue Modesty in Corporate Sustainability Disclosure,” (with Eun-Hee Kim), Organization Science, 2014, 26: 705-723.
- “Environmental Disclosure: Evidence from Newsweek’s Green Companies Rankings,” (with Jay P. Shimshack), Business and Society, 2015, 54(5): 632-675.
- “The Means and End of Greenwash,” (with A. Wren Montgomery), Organization and Environment, 2015, 28(2): 223–249.
- “Optimizing Eco-Efficiency across the Procurement Portfolio,” (with Rylie E.O. Pelton, Mo Li, and Timothy M. Smith), Environmental Science & Technology, 2016, 50(11): 5908-5918.
- “The Drivers and Impacts of Renewable Portfolio Standards,” Annual Review of Resource Economics, 2016, 8: 141-155.
- “Voluntary Cleanup Programs for Brownfield Sites: A Theoretical Analysis,” (with Allen Blackman, Kris Wernstedt and Haitao Yin), Environmental and Resource Economics, forthcoming.
- “The Millennial `Meh’: Correlated Groups as Collective Agents in the Automobile Field,” (with Montgomery, A. Wren and Kim Wolske) Journal of Management Studies, in press.
- "Merchants of doubt: Corporate political action when NGO credibility is uncertain." (with Chiroleu‐Assouline and Mireille) Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 2020, 29(2): 439-461. https://doi.org/10.1111/jems.12338.
- “Introduction to the Special Issue on `Social Movements and Private Environmental Governance’," Organization & Environment, 2020, 33(1):3-6 https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1086026619853783
- “Understanding the Role of the Corporation in Sustainability Transitions,” (with Delmas, Magali, and John W. Maxwell) Organization & Environment, 2019, 32(2): 87-97. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1086026619848255
- “Non-profits and the Environment: Using Market Forces for Social Good,” in Walter W. Powell and Patricia Bromley, editors, (with Delmas, Magali, and Sean Jackson) The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook, Stanford University Press, 2020.
Read more publications here.
Research
- 2016-2017: Sloan Foundation Grant, “What’s Driving Millennial Travel Behavior: An Exploratory Study,” $72,846.
- 2015-2019: Environmental Protection Agency, “Engineering and Policy Studies of Transportation Impacts on Air Quality,” $1,002,927.
- 2016: Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation, “Corporate Sustainability 2.0: Leading Systemic Change,” 2016, $35,000.
Education
PhD, Stanford University (engineering, economic systems)
MS, Stanford University (engineering, economic systems)
BS, Princeton University (civil engineering)
In the News
In the Media