Course Overview

Climate Action Now (CAN) aims to deepen students’ ability to create and implement high-impact climate solutions by focusing on key ventures, cities, and regions, along with the leadership skills and tactics that can accelerate climate action. The course will explore business models and stakeholder coalitions that can produce solutions quickly while building markets and constituencies for change -- the “demand” side of climate action.

CAN will feature cities/regions as critical for addressing climate change, especially in high-emission domains such as energy, transportation, buildings, and consumer household choices. Issues include developing and scaling innovations, cross-sector coalition-building, stakeholder engagement, and dealing with obstacles as ventures proceed. Solutions explored will include renewable energy, such as offshore wind farms; electric school buses and vehicle fleets; green buildings and districts, including a model sports arena and air conditioning innovations; and climate tech ecosystems to grow and deploy solutions faster.

Cases will feature key actors and constituencies across sectors (business leaders, climate tech entrepreneurs, government leaders, clean energy developers, community activists, climate action resisters) who must collaborate to identify promising solutions and promote their adoption as positive responses to climate risks and opportunities. The use of cross-sector multi-stakeholder coalitions will be explored in diverse places. Questions of climate justice – who is most vulnerable to climate change, who benefits from actions – will also be raised.

Class guests will include leaders from focal ventures and places, many of which are new and innovative. Throughout, class discussions will contribute to developing a leadership-for-climate-action toolkit. Students will finish CAN better able to build climate-related ventures or take on civic leadership to promote faster, more effective change.

Career Focus

-Entrepreneurship: starting, partnering, scaling, gaining support for climate-related ventures

-Consulting: environmental and sustainability analysis and solutions

-Policy leadership: sustainability management roles in the private and public sectors

-Civic activism and philanthropy

Educational Objectives:

-Enhanced knowledge of high-impact climate solutions and the change management skills involved in implementing them

-Ability to overcome systemic or social barriers to the development and deployment of innovative solutions

-Success factors in public-private partnerships and cross-sector coalitions

-Leadership skills for mobilizing support and accelerating effective action

Grades

Grades will be based on class participation (50%) and written work (50%) – 2 short reflection memos and 5-7 page final paper.

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