How Public Policy Can Drive Climate Innovation and Business Opportunities: A Conversation with USEPA’s David Cash
- 30 OCT 2024
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- Climate Rising
David Cash, the Regional Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
for New England, shares his journey from environmental science to state and federal
leadership roles. He highlights how the clean energy transition in the United States
is being driven by public policy, community engagement, and new funding through the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. He explains the U.S.
EPA’s role in balancing climate action with economic development, while promoting
environmental justice. David also offers insights on career opportunities at the intersection
of business, climate, and government.
David Cash, the Regional Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
for New England, shares his journey from environmental science to state and federal
leadership roles. He highlights how the clean energy transition in the United States
is being driven by public policy, community engagement, and new funding through the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. He explains the U.S.
EPA’s role in balancing climate action with economic development, while promoting
environmental justice. David also offers insights on career opportunities at the intersection
of business, climate, and government.
Business and Climate Change: Three Harvard Business School Student Perspectives
Re: Mike Toffel & Forest Reinhardt By: Shona Simkin
- 30 Oct 2024
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- Harvard Business School
How Robust Is Your Climate Governance?
By: Lynn Paine & Suraj Srinivasan
- 16 Oct 2024
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- Harvard Business Review
How Robust Is Your Climate Governance?
- NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2024
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- Harvard Business Review
During the past few years, as evidence of climate change and its effects has mounted, many corporate boards have added climate governance to their agendas. But the maturity of boards’ climate-oversight processes and activities varies widely. To better understand how climate issues are being handled in the boardroom and to determine what good climate governance looks like in practice, the authors interviewed 20 directors who hold leadership positions on the boards of S&P 500 companies. Drawing from those interviews and other research, they identify eight hallmarks of meaningful climate oversight. For example, “the board is knowledgeable about the company’s climate profile,” “the board has the expertise needed for effective climate oversight,” and “the board can articulate the company’s climate positioning and strategy.” The authors also offer their perspective on the set of issues associated with each hallmark that corporate leaders must grapple with as they decide how to incorporate climate issues into their company’s governance. Climate concerns are here to stay, and climate governance will increasingly be seen as a core element of good governance.
Vineyard Wind Starts Spinning (B): Breakdown and (C): Recovery and Progress
- OCTOBER 2024
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- Teaching Material
SWEN Blue Ocean: Impact Investing Goes to Sea
- OCTOBER 2024
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- Case
In August 2023, SWEN Blue Ocean, a 170 million impact fund that invested in startups contributing to ocean sustainability, faced a critical investment decision. Part of SWEN Capital Partners, an 8 billion, Paris-based private equity fund, Blue Ocean was co-founded in 2021 by Christian Lim and Olivier Raybaud. It focused on venture-stage companies that offered scalable, proven solutions to overfishing, ocean pollution, and climate change. Its investments were approved by an expert impact committee, and the fund’s carried interest depended on it meeting impact targets that were confirmed by its investors. Blue Ocean now had to decide whether to invest in WSense, an Italian company whose products had the potential to revolutionize underwater communications, creating networks equivalent to Wi-Fi at sea. WSense’s innovations could capabilities that were essential to ocean sustainability, but there were also risks that they could have a negative impact, enabling fossil fuel production or weapons development. The case asks if Blue Ocean should make the investment, or not.
A Better Way to Measure Social Impact
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2024
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- Harvard Business Review Digital Articles
All impact investors report the financial returns from their funds and investments, and many provide metrics on intended social outcomes, such as numbers of individuals served, or quality jobs created. But investors do not supply metrics about their impacts on individuals’ and families’ lives, and until they do, social impact reporting is unlikely to approach the level of robustness associated with financial and environmental reporting. The authors of this article describe how Bayer’s Crop Science division has developed reliable stakeholder reported measures of the social impact of its inclusive growth projects based on an approach first pioneered in the healthcare sector.
Supporting a Community of Learners
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An advanced curriculum for corporate and nonprofit executives from all over the world to prepare them for new levels of leadership.
As we increasingly experience the effects of climate change – predicted by scientists over 50 years ago – business is vital.