The theme of the 2024 Climate Symposium was “Confronting Reality, Celebrating Innovation”, reflecting the dual goal of the conference to confront the stark reality of the climate crisis while highlighting the innovations and policies that are driving sustainable solutions.

The Climate Symposium is an annual conference organized by the Energy & Environment, Food & Agriculture, and Sustainability Clubs. This is one of the largest student-run conferences on the HBS campus, demonstrating the growing urgency and interest from students on climate change. This year, the conference co-chairs were Josefina Salas, Eli Litchman, and Jakob Spiess. The co-chairs explored new formats, including two learning sessions and a Climate Visioning workshop, which were successful additions to the traditional panel and keynote formats.

The opening keynote address featured Spencer Glendon, Founder of Probable Futures, who is dedicated to making climate science accessible, helping build climate literacy, and empowering people to prepare for the consequences of climate change. He outlined actionable steps that individuals can take, reminding participants that, “I’m not here to give you bad news I’m here to help you make a plan.”

From there, HBS Professor Brian Trelstad spoke with Wendy Woods, Vice Chair of Social Impact and Climate & Sustainability at BCG, on corporate climate commitments and the challenges and successes of how large corporations are translating climate promises into actionable strategies. Wendy emphasized that while there has been tremendous growth driven by customer, employees, and investors, that there is a need for regulatory frameworks to help guide businesses in this rapidly changing landscape: “The fastest way is for government to get involved, that is going to change things the furthest and the fastest.”

The morning panels offered a range of topics for attendees to select from, ranging from climate finance and decarbonizing transportation to nature-based solutions to climate.

During the Learning Session on “Financing the Climate Transition”, Francis O’Sullivan, Managing Director of S2G Ventures, and Ely Sandler, HKS Research Fellow, explored how we can finance the climate transition using innovative tools, while simultaneously addressing the associated risks. Ely recognized the challenges of the upfront costs of the energy transition, and Frank, referring to phase 3 as “the difficult third album for energy transition”, explained that while the challenge is complex, we can do a better job at addressing it.

Mohammad Alkhadra, Co-Founder and CEO of Lithios, Tomoaki Inchida, Managing Executive Officer of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., and Gene Gebolys, CEO of World Energy, outlined the strategies being used to decarbonize transportation as well as the unique challenges that they face.

In “Evaluating the Role of Nature Based Solutions in the Climate Challenge”, panelists explored how nature-based solutions can be leveraged to address climate challenges. Janna Jiang, Sr. Manager of Corporate Strategy at Rubicon Carbon, stressed the importance of aligning incentives, which is “good for investors, good for buyers, and good for the community.” Malak Abu Sharkh, Investor at LowerCarbon Capital, reiterated the importance of developing detailed and scientifically driven protocols.

Following lunch, the afternoon panels offered compelling sessions on decarbonizing the grid, the role of the global south, sustainable buildings, and decarbonizing heavy industries. During the session on “Sustainable Buildings: Adapting to the Future”, the conversation flowed through the supply chain where panelist Daniel Betts, Co-Founder and CEO of Blue Frontier, emphasized that we’re “working with technology that is ripe for change.” During "Learning from the Global South," attendees learned about how the region has disproportionately suffered from the impacts of climate change and the importance of empowering those countries to benefit from the economic value created by clean energy while increasing the cost borne by developed nations.

In “Decarbonizing Heavy Industries”, panelist Laureen Meroueh, CEO of Hertha Metals, and Lynn Rouse, Technology Strategy Manager at Chevron, recognized the role of risk and how the stage of the company will often dictate risk tolerance. “Collaboration is a key critical piece”, explained Rouse, and that there is an imperative need for public, private and technological partnerships for decarbonization to succeed. Raffi Freeman, VP of Strategy at Sublime Systems, explained that to overcome the initial phase, “we need incentives like a tax credit to help scale.”

During “Decarbonizing the Grid”, panelists leveraged their expertise to share the challenges and opportunities in achieving a sustainable future, recognizing that solving the intermittency issue of renewable energy is critical. “It will be a mix of everything and we’ll need to determine the optimal mix,” said Tristan Doherty, Chief Product Officer at LG Energy Solutions Vertech.

A well attended session on "Harnessing AI for Climate Solutions" focused on how to leverage AI for climate solutions, from assessing compliance with climate regulations and building software to manage and operate the grid to better spraying pesticides in precision agriculture - and more. The session emphasized the importance of finding accurate and quality data as well as the importance of finding multidisciplinary talent and strategic partnerships to scale climate solutions.

Following the morning sessions, attendees were invited to a climate visioning workshop, where participants worked with Tory Stephens and Lisa Jurras-Buchanan of Grist to take time together to focus on the future we want and think through how we can work together toward a sustainable world.

In “B2C Sustainability: Greening Consumer Products and Services”, panelists explained how to launch and market sustainable products. “We’re building consumer trust by doing the up-front work as policy makers to make it easier for customers.” said Nora Bloch, Senior Policy Manager at the Massachusetts Community Climate Bank. Nika Mosenthal, VP of Sales at Hungryroot, emphasized the importance of “making healthy sustainable food affordable and accessible for everyone”.

During “Building a Sustainable Food System: Policy, Innovation and the Future of Food” a range of panelists offered their expertise on the innovative role that the food system can play in addressing climate change. Each panelist offered their unique perspective, including Katie Stebbins, Executive Director of the Food & Nutrition Innovation Institute at Tufts University, who pointed out that “there’s no silver bullet movement, it’s a million pieces moving forward”.

The Start-up Competition featured pitches from six finalist teams to a curated panel of judges. The competition offers entrepreneurs working to develop innovative solutions that help solve the climate crisis access to coaching, networking opportunities, and a cash prize. Finalist ventures included: Baleena, VERDE Nanomaterials, Helix Carbon, deScrapped, SeaCycle, and HydroHaul. This year the grand prize winner was awarded to HydroHaul.

Rounding out the day was an interview with Lubomila Jordanova, CEO & Founder of Plan A & Greentech Alliance, by Eleanor Laurans, Founding Partner of Workshop Ventures Partners, on empowering businesses to focus on the opportunities that climate change brings. Lubomila shared the driving factors that drove her to commit to a career in climate and stressed that climate and profitability are not mutually exclusive. The final keynote explored how people can transform climate challenges into innovation and growth.

The 2024 Symposium was an inspirational program that brought together over 400 people from all over the world and across different industries. The Symposium attracted students, industry operators, investors, and academics with a diverse array of speakers from Southeast Asia, Europe, and the US, representing the non-profit, corporate, and startup worlds.