As an MBA student at HBS, you will prepare yourself for leadership in a rapidly changing world in which natural resources are increasingly scarce and the threat of climate change ever more urgent.
Shareholder Activism and Firms' Voluntary Disclosure of Climate Change Risks
- OCTOBER 2021
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- Strategic Management Journal
This paper examines whether—in the absence of mandated disclosure requirements—shareholder activism can elicit greater disclosure of firms’ exposure to climate change risks. We find that environmental shareholder activism increases the voluntary disclosure of climate change risks, especially if initiated by institutional investors, and even more so if initiated by long-term institutional investors. We also find that companies that voluntarily disclose climate change risks following environmental shareholder activism achieve a higher valuation post disclosure, suggesting that investors value transparency with respect to firms’ exposure to climate change risks.
Accounting for Workforce Impact at Scale
- 2021
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- Working Paper
Using new data on workforce composition and wages, we systematically measure the employment impact at U.S. firms from 2008 to 2020, including 2,518 unique firms and 20,764 firm year observations. We document significant variation across industries and firms within each industry suggesting significant heterogeneity of firm human capital strategies. Employment impact is associated with lower employee turnover, higher firm valuation, and higher risk-return parameters. Our results collectively demonstrate the feasibility and value of employment impact accounting.
Saving for a Dry Day: Coal, Dams, and the Energy Transition
- 2021
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- Working Paper
Renewable generation creates a tradeoff between current and future energy production as generators produce energy by releasing previously stored resources. Studying the Colombian market, we find that diversified firms strategically substitute fossil fuels for hydropower before droughts. This substitution mitigates the surge in market prices due to the lower hydropower capacity available during dry periods. Diversification can increase prices, instead, if it results from mergers steepening a firm’s residual demand. Thus, integrating production technologies within firms can smooth the clean-energy transition by offsetting higher prices during scarcity periods if the unaffected technologies help store renewables more than exercise market power.
Who Pays For Wildfire and Hurricane Damage? Everyone.
- 07 SEP 2021
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- Research & Ideas
Think only coastal states bear the costs related to rising seas? Research by Ishita Sen and colleagues shows how homeowners everywhere pay for climate change, regardless of location.
Making a Marketplace for Captured Carbon: Steve Oldham, Carbon Engineering
- 20 MAY 2021
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- Climate Rising
Many of the innovators we’ve spoken with this season are launching technologies or
business models that produce less carbon than status quo approaches – leather made
from mushrooms instead of cows, for example, and vehicles that run on electricity
instead of fossil fuels. Other guests are finding new ways to finance those new technologies
or business models. In this episode, we meet Steve Oldham, the CEO of Carbon Engineering,
who is tackling climate change from a different angle – by developing a technology
that captures carbon already in the air. The potential benefits of this approach are
huge, but the challenges are at this point significant.
Many of the innovators we’ve spoken with this season are launching technologies or
business models that produce less carbon than status quo approaches – leather made
from mushrooms instead of cows, for example, and vehicles that run on electricity
instead of fossil fuels. Other guests are finding new ways to finance those new technologies
or business models. In this episode, we meet Steve Oldham, the CEO of Carbon Engineering,
who is tackling climate change from a different angle – by developing a technology
that captures carbon already in the air. The potential benefits of this approach are
huge, but the challenges are at this point significant.
An advanced curriculum for corporate and nonprofit executives from all over the world to prepare them for new levels of leadership.
The Business & Environment Initiative connects alumni with students, faculty, and each other for learning, careers, and impact.
Vanguard Companies Tap Their Firm’s Collective Intelligence to Achieve Social Impact and Financial Success: Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Re: Rosabeth Moss Kanter
- 27 Aug 2021
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- Economic Times
Farrell: How an Investor Can Try to Make Money and Stay Away from Polluting Companies
Re: Shirley Lu
- 21 Aug 2021
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- Star Tribune