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- February 2025
- Tutorial
Preparing Business Leaders for an Era of Climate Instability: Understanding and Managing Physical Climate Risk
By: Michael W. Toffel and Spencer Glendon
In this compelling video, Spencer Glendon, founder of Probable Futures and Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, describes the profound implications of climate change for businesses, the economy, and societies around the world. Drawing from his background in... View Details
Keywords: Risk; Uncertainty; Modeling; Climate Change; Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management
- 2025
- Article
Educating Students and Professionals on the Business Implications of Climate Change
As climate change poses unprecedented challenges and opportunities, the private sector must play a pivotal role in both adaptation and mitigation efforts. This article discusses the new Harvard Business School Online course, Business and Climate Change, designed to... View Details
Keywords: Climate Impact; Online Courses; Online Education; Decarbonization; Mitigation Policies; Climate Risk; Climate Change; Risk Management; Science; Policy; Business Education; Adaptation
Toffel, Michael W. "Educating Students and Professionals on the Business Implications of Climate Change." Global Focus: The EFMD Business Magazine 192, no. 2 (2025): 29–32.
- January 2025
- Supplement
Hippo: Weathering the Storm of the Home Insurance Crisis (B)
By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Sophia Pan
Rick McCathron, CEO of Hippo, was optimistic about the InsurTech's path to profitability after navigating the financial uncertainties of 2022. By bundling their home insurance services with third-parties and established insurance incumbents, Hippo was adopting a... View Details
Keywords: Fintech; Underwriters; Big Data; Homeowners' Insurance; Catastrophe Risk; Global Warming; Environment; Business Economics; Vertical Specialization; Bundling; Economies Of Scale; Business Model; Forecasting and Prediction; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Technological Innovation; Natural Environment; Natural Disasters; Weather; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Business Earnings; Insurance; Social Issues; Profit; Insurance Industry; California; United States
- December 2024
- Supplement
Northvolt: Building Batteries to Fight Climate Change (B)
The (B) case explores Northvolt’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on November 21, 2024, highlighting the company’s
struggles to scale operations amid a global EV market slowdown and internal production challenges. While the (A) case detailed
Northvolt’s ambitious... View Details
Keywords: Batteries; Electric Vehicles; Climate Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Energy; Green Technology; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment; Technological Innovation; Risk Management; Failure; Business and Government Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations; Transportation; Green Technology Industry; Europe; Sweden
- 2024
- Working Paper
Climate Solutions, Transition Risk, and Stock Returns
By: Shirley Lu, Edward J. Riedl, Simon Xu and George Serafeim
Using large language models to measure firms' climate solution products and services, we find that high-climate solution firms exhibit lower stock returns and higher market valuation multiples. Their stock prices respond positively to events signaling increased demand... View Details
Keywords: Technology; Generative Ai; Large Language Models; Climate Finance; Climate Change; Innovation and Invention; Environmental Sustainability; AI and Machine Learning; Investment; Financial Markets
Lu, Shirley, Edward J. Riedl, Simon Xu, and George Serafeim. "Climate Solutions, Transition Risk, and Stock Returns." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 25-024, November 2024.
- October 2024 (Revised November 2024)
- Case
SWEN Blue Ocean: Impact Investing Goes to Sea
By: Vikram S Gandhi and David Allen
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... View Details
Keywords: Communication Technology; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Science-Based Business; Technological Innovation; Financial Services Industry; France; Paris; Italy
Gandhi, Vikram S., and David Allen. "SWEN Blue Ocean: Impact Investing Goes to Sea." Harvard Business School Case 325-013, October 2024. (Revised November 2024.)
- September 2024
- Case
TechEnergy Ventures: Innovating Through Corporate Venture Capital
By: Rebecca Karp and Lena Duchene
This case examines TechEnergy Ventures, the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of the Techint Group, and its role in scaling innovation within the energy sector. Founded in 2021, TechEnergy Ventures operates with a mandate to invest in disruptive technologies to... View Details
Keywords: Transition; Alternative Energy; Renewable Energy; Metals and Minerals; Mining; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Finance; Venture Capital; Financial Strategy; Investment Portfolio; Growth and Development Strategy; Adaptation; Diversification; Innovation Strategy; Energy Industry; Financial Services Industry; Italy; Europe; Latin America; Argentina
Karp, Rebecca, and Lena Duchene. "TechEnergy Ventures: Innovating Through Corporate Venture Capital." Harvard Business School Case 725-393, September 2024.
- September 20, 2024
- Article
It’s Time to Unbundle ESG
By: Aaron K. Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel
ESG is at an inflection point. It has come to represent a broad and inchoate aspiration for what business should be doing beyond maximizing shareholder value. With ESG advocates on the defensive, business leaders need a new roadmap to determine which factors to... View Details
Keywords: ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Ratings; ESG Reporting; ESG Disclosure; Sustainability; Climate; Climate Finance; Climate Risk; Social Accounting; Investment; Governance; Safety; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Financial Services Industry
Chatterji, Aaron K., and Michael W. Toffel. "It’s Time to Unbundle ESG." Harvard Business Review (website) (September 20, 2024).
- 2024
- Chapter
Corporations as the Central Institutions of Society
Mark Twain observed that, “Prediction is very difficult—particularly when it involves the future,” and he was right. One way to reduce the risk of becoming an infamous forecaster—like the experts who told us the Internet would quickly collapse, that Apple would never... View Details
Badaracco, Joseph L. "Corporations as the Central Institutions of Society." Chap. 4 in Justifying Next Stage Capitalism: Exploring a Hopeful Future, edited by Michel Dion and Moses Pava, 87–106. Springer, 2024.
- 2025
- Working Paper
Pricing of Climate Risk Insurance: Regulation and Cross-Subsidies
By: Ishita Sen, Ana-Maria Tenekedjieva and Sangmin Oh
We study the consequences of state-level price (rate) regulation for U.S. homeowners' insurance, a $15 trillion market that provides households protection against climate losses. Using two distinct identification strategies and novel data on regulatory filings and ZIP... View Details
Keywords: Climate Risk; Homeowners' Insurance; Price Controls; Financial Regulation; Cross-subsidization; Climate Change; Household; Insurance; Price; Governance Controls; Financial Institutions; United States
Sen, Ishita, Ana-Maria Tenekedjieva, and Sangmin Oh. "Pricing of Climate Risk Insurance: Regulation and Cross-Subsidies." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 24-077, June 2024. (Conditionally Accepted, Journal of Finance. SSRN Working Paper Series, No. 3762235, June 2022)
- April 2024
- Article
Model-based Financial Regulations Impair the Transition to Net-zero Carbon Emissions
By: Matteo Gasparini, Matthew C. Ives, Ben Carr, Sophie Fry and Eric Beinhocker
Investments via the financial system are essential for fostering the green transition. However, the role of existing financial regulations in influencing investment decisions is understudied. Here we analyse data from the European Banking Authority to show that... View Details
Gasparini, Matteo, Matthew C. Ives, Ben Carr, Sophie Fry, and Eric Beinhocker. "Model-based Financial Regulations Impair the Transition to Net-zero Carbon Emissions." Nature Climate Change 14, no. 5 (April 2024): 434–435.
- March 2024 (Revised March 2025)
- Background Note
Physical Climate Risk
By: Michael W. Toffel, Spencer Glendon and Alison Smart
This note describes how managers can identify their company’s physical climate risks, which can heighten the risk of business disruption, change the costs of operations and supply chains, and affect the demand for their goods and services. The note also provides a... View Details
- February 2024 (Revised February 2024)
- Case
CLSA: Integrating ESG in Stock Valuation
By: Shirley Lu, Aaron Yoon and Billy Chan
In 2023, a senior financial analyst at the Hong Kong-based stock brokerage firm CLSA was surprised to see that, based on his calculations, the financial impact from climate risks on a major Indian cement manufacturing company’s projected earnings could be massive.... View Details
- February 2024
- Case
Continuity & Change at Boston Consulting Group
By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and David Lane
As the new CEO of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) since autumn 2021, Christoph Schweizer had big shoes to fill—his predecessor, Rich Lesser, had tripled the partnership’s total revenues and created digital initiatives that contributed 40+% of 2021 revenues, more than... View Details
Keywords: Business Organization; Change Management; Talent and Talent Management; Governance; AI and Machine Learning; Environmental Sustainability; Leading Change; Risk Management; Organizational Culture; Partners and Partnerships; Revenue; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Succession; Consulting Industry
Fubini, David G., Suraj Srinivasan, and David Lane. "Continuity & Change at Boston Consulting Group." Harvard Business School Case 124-011, February 2024.
- February 2024 (Revised March 2024)
- Teaching Note
X: The Foghorn Decision
By: Kyle Myers and Walter Frick
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 618-060. View Details
Keywords: Alternative Energy; Energy Generation; Energy Sources; Climate Change; Green Technology; Selection and Staffing; Knowledge; Product Design; Product Development; Research and Development; Risk and Uncertainty; Science-Based Business; Innovation and Invention; Auto Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Chemical Industry; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry; Green Technology Industry; Technology Industry
- 2024
- Working Paper
When Insurers Exit: Climate Losses, Fragile Insurers, and Mortgage Markets
By: Pari Sastry, Ishita Sen and Ana-Maria Tenekedjieva
This paper studies how homeowners insurance markets respond to growing climate losses and how this impacts mortgage market dynamics. Using Florida as a case study, we show that traditional insurers are exiting high risk areas, and new lower quality insurers are... View Details
Keywords: Insurance; Natural Disasters; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Insurance Industry; Florida
Sastry, Pari, Ishita Sen, and Ana-Maria Tenekedjieva. "When Insurers Exit: Climate Losses, Fragile Insurers, and Mortgage Markets." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 24-051, February 2024. (Revise & Resubmit, Quarterly Journal of Economics. SSRN Working Paper Series, No. 4674279, December 2023)
- 2024
- Article
Financial Constraints and Short-Term Planning Are Linked to Flood Risk Adaptation Gaps in U.S. Cities
By: Shirley Lu and Anya Nakhmurina
Adaptation is critical in reducing the inevitable impact of climate change. Here we study cities’ adaptation to elevated flood risk by introducing a linguistic measure of adaptation extracted from financial disclosures of 431 US cities over 2013–2020. While cities with... View Details
Keywords: City; Natural Disasters; Climate Change; Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategic Planning
Lu, Shirley, and Anya Nakhmurina. "Financial Constraints and Short-Term Planning Are Linked to Flood Risk Adaptation Gaps in U.S. Cities." Art. 43. Communications Earth & Environment 5 (2024).
- January 2025
- Teaching Note
Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service
By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel and Stacy Straaberg
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 124-007. The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of... View Details
Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Innovation and Invention; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Startups; Resource Allocation; Risk Management; Adoption; Strategy; Performance Productivity; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Supply Chain; Distribution; Entrepreneurship; Climate Change; Green Technology Industry; Service Industry; Retail Industry; Germany; Europe
- January 2024 (Revised May 2024)
- Case
PortageBay and ESG Analytics
By: Vikram S. Gandhi and Radhika Kak
In 2023, sustainable investors faced several challenges. The first was the lack of access to standardized and vetted environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data, and equally, the interpretation of this data into investment-useful insights. Reducing reliance on... View Details
Keywords: ESG Ratings; Investment Funds; Governance; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact
Gandhi, Vikram S., and Radhika Kak. "PortageBay and ESG Analytics." Harvard Business School Case 324-065, January 2024. (Revised May 2024.)
- December 2023 (Revised May 2024)
- Case
Building Resiliency in McDonald's Supply Chain
By: David E. Bell, Damien McLoughlin and David Lane
Considers McDonald’s efforts to build resilience into its global supply chain so that the company and its suppliers can better navigate the increasing pressures and pace of climate change and regulatory change, including a focus on supplying sustainable beef, while the... View Details
Keywords: Climate Change; Supply Chain Management; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Growth Management; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Europe; South America
Bell, David E., Damien McLoughlin, and David Lane. "Building Resiliency in McDonald's Supply Chain." Harvard Business School Case 524-001, December 2023. (Revised May 2024.)