BEI recently named Courtney Fairbrother as the new Associate Director. Courtney manages student and alumni engagement and creates networks and opportunities that encourage these groups to address climate change. She also oversees the implementation of infrastructure supporting increased career and entrepreneurial opportunities for students.

On Earth Day 2021, the HBS Business and Environment Initiative and AMP199 Energy Circle co-hosted a conversation between Joan MacNaughton, Chair of the Climate Group and of the Advisory Board of the New Energy Coalition of Europe, and Professor Richard Vietor, Baker Foundation Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, about how governments, businesses, and society must act together—now—to cut global emissions in half by 2030 to keep temperature rises under 1.5°C and avoid the disastrous effects of climate change.

Rebekah Emanuel (MBA 2015), Director of Social Entrepreneurship for the Harvard Innovation Labs (i-Lab) and host of the third season of the BEI’s Climate Rising podcast, reflects on the role of entrepreneurship in confronting climate change and what she learned as this season’s host of Climate Rising.

Cissy Chen (MBA 2019) reflects on her how experience at HBS shaped her career and inspired her to make a difference in her home region of Asia through impact investing.

In November 2020, three HBS student clubs hosted three separate virtual conferences that drew over 600 attendees, demonstrating the strong and growing interest in the critical connection between business and the environment among HBS MBAs. Each of the themes, while distinct, all focused on the changes that businesses across sectors will have to make in order to confront challenges from climate change.