Climate change is a complex, multilevel challenge with implications of failure unimaginable for current and future generations. However, despite the Paris Agreement supporting the imperative for action in an atmosphere of scientific consensus, organisations are failing to take the decisive action required. We argue that this lack of organisational action needs to be addressed by examining the cognitive foundations of managerial decisions on climate change and sustainability. A systematic review of research on cognition, sensemaking and managerial interpretation where it is linked to climate change or sustainability is presented within this article. The results detail a multilevel analysis highlighting key themes and the core concepts from the literature including factors shaping the cognitive process, to elucidate reasons for inaction and potential for promoting change. Through this research, an integrated model is presented demonstrating the interaction of factors, cognitive processes and outcomes. Based on this analysis, potential reasons for inaction are proposed and countered by three potential solutions linked to leadership, social norms and structural reform.

气候变化是一个复杂的、多层次的挑战，失败的后果对今世后代来说是难以想象的。然而，尽管《巴黎协定》支持在科学共识的氛围中采取行动的必要性，但各组织未能采取所需的果断行动。我们认为，需要通过检查气候变化和可持续性管理决策的认知基础来解决这种缺乏组织行动的问题。本文对与气候变化或可持续性相关的认知、意义建构和管理解释的研究进行了系统回顾。结果详细说明了多层次分析，突出了文献中的关键主题和核心概念，包括影响认知过程的因素，阐明不作为的原因和促进变革的潜力。通过这项研究，提出了一个综合模型，展示了因素、认知过程和结果的相互作用。基于这一分析，提出了不作为的潜在原因，并通过与领导力、社会规范和结构改革相关的三个潜在解决方案进行了反驳。