Emma Somos
DPhil in Sociology
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St Catherine's College
Thesis: Elites and climate change: Untangling elite behaviour, firms' policies and political environments in the face of the climate crisis
Supervisor: Professor Stephen Fisher
Emma is a sociologist, working in the intersection of political and environmental sociology. Before pursuing a PhD, she worked as a research assistant at LSE's Department of Sociology, the Oxford Internet Institute, and the Blavatnik School of Government.
She also volunteered with UNICEF, Climate Cardinals and the UK Youth Climate Coalition and advocated for intersectional climate policy at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. At Oxford, Emma is an SDG Impact Lab Fellow in 2025 and intern at the Government Outcomes Lab. She has been active in student leadership roles as a Junior Dean and in other positions at the Oxford Union, Wolfson College, and the Graduate Inequality Review Journal.
Emma's research tries to understand the behaviour of economic elites (CEOs and the superrich) regarding environmental issues. She is interested in ‘who is influencing who’ if we think through the relationship between CEOs, firms and political environment.
Emma plans to focus on four liberal democracies, the UK, US, Canada and Australia, in the past two decades and investigate why some economic elites and firms behave more climate consciously than others. The evidence shows that elites contribute significantly more to climate change than people in other classes. However, elites are key part of the solution as they usually occupy powerful decision-making positions. With current news about the biggest companies dropping their climate targets and banks quitting their net zero commitments corresponding with a rise in climate-sceptic political leaders, it is crucial to understand processes of influence regarding the climate action of high-socioeconomic-status people, the biggest companies and politicians.
Research Interests: Economic elites, environmental politics, climate legislation, social stratification, social mobility, politics of climate change
Previous Education: BSc Sociology, London School of Economics; MSc Sociology, University of Oxford
