Patagonia’s radical business move is great – but governments, not billionaires, should be saving the planet | Carl Rhodes

We cannot simply stand back and hope that the elite will give away their wealth to tackle the climate emergency

Making bold statements about addressing the climate crisis has become de rigueur in the corporate world over the past few years. But this was taken to a whole new level when the founder and owner of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, announced that his family was transferring 98% of the company's stock to a newly created not-for-profit organisation dedicated to combatting climate breakdown.

Chouinard was applauded for giving away" his company for the planet. He himself claimed that it was turning capitalism on its head". The widespread admiration of Chouinard is a telling sign of popular dissatisfaction with the excesses of the global corporate economy and its billionaire bosses. But the question remains: does this giveaway mark any fundamental change to the system?

Carl Rhodes is a professor of organisation studies at the University of Technology in Sydney