Publications

April 2025 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Governing Sustainability in a Shifting Context (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

In early 2025, boards of directors had to rethink corporate responsibility and sustainability efforts amid rapidly-shifting social, legal, regulatory, and economic forces. While just a few years earlier, calls to address racial justice and climate change reached into... View Details

August 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization (B)

By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel, Susan Pinckney and Amram Migdal

The case describes Arla’s history, in particular its climate change mitigation efforts, and how it implemented a price incentive system to motivate individual farms to implement scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions mitigation measures and receive a higher milk price. The... View Details

Article

Research: People Use Less Energy When They Think Their Neighbors Care About the Environment

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Oliver P. Hauser, Julie O'Brien, Erin Sherman and Adam D. Galinsky

A significant reduction in energy consumption is needed to help meet critical temperature thresholds. New research points to a way to help consumers work toward this goal – one that doesn’t rest on changing people’s personal beliefs about climate change. Rather, it... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Energy; Energy Conservation; Motivation and Incentives

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04 Sep 2024
News

Harvard Business School Announces 2024-2025 Institute for Business in Global Society Fellows

22 Jan 2016
News

Lessons from Boston’s Experiment with The One Fund

July 2008 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Enterprise Risk Management at Hydro One (A)

By: Anette Mikes

An early adopter of Enterprise Risk Management, energy giant Hydro One anticipated new threats and opportunities in an industry that faced climate change and carbon legislation, the deregulation of electricity markets, and the greater adoption of renewable... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Knowledge Sharing; Managerial Roles; Risk Management; Strategic Planning; Situation or Environment; Environmental Sustainability; Renewable Energy; Energy Industry

Summer 2013
Response

How Caesars Entertainment Is Betting on Sustainability: Response

By: Michael W. Toffel

One of the largest gaming companies in the world expanded its sustainability efforts using a scorecard to guide and goad managers. This response assesses Caesars Entertainment's CodeGreen scorecard, advocates a more comprehensive environmental assessment to target... View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Entertainment; Energy; Energy Conservation; Buildings and Facilities; Goals and Objectives; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Evaluation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Article

Decarbonization Factors

By: Alex Cheema-Fox, Bridget LaPerla, George Serafeim, David Turkington and Hui (Stacie) Wang

In the face of accelerating climate change, investors are making capital allocations seeking to decarbonize portfolios by reducing the carbon emissions of their holdings. To understand the performance of portfolio decarbonization strategies and investor behavior... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Investment Management; Factor Investing; Investor Behavior; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Investment; Management

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09 Feb 2023
Blog Post

The Sixth Year of Short Intensive Programs (SIPs) at HBS

three programs: Accelerating Climate Solutions; Africa Rising: Understanding Business, Entrepreneurship, and the Complexities of a Continent; and Moving Beyond DTC (Direct to Consumer). In Accelerating View Details

October 2021
Supplement

Engine No. 1: An Activist Hedge Fund Pursues Stakeholder Capitalism (B)

By: Mark Kramer

Engine Number 1's proxy fight succeeded in part because Exxon shareholders had lost money in the preceding years and because climate change was a high-profile issue. The B case raises the question of whether Engine No. 1's next target should be Facebook, where social... View Details

Keywords: Proxy Fight; Hedge Fund Activism; Social Impact; Business and Shareholder Relations; Climate Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Goals and Objectives

11 Oct 2021
Blog Post

Crafting a Nontraditional Path to Venture Capital and Private Equity with Morgan Sheil (MBA 2021)

presented Sheil with an opportunity to reflect and then narrow her focus on what she wanted to be doing in the climate sustainability space. With her goals defined, it was time for HBS and a pivot into systems View Details

23 Mar 2012
HBS Seminar

Dan Kahan, Professor of Law and Professor of Psychology at Yale Law School

November 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Case

Lipman: Vertical Integration in Fresh Tomatoes

By: José B. Alvarez and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Lipman, the largest open field fresh tomato grower and marketer in the United States, has been successfully pursuing an aggressive strategy of acquisitions over the last several years. End-market consolidation in the retail space has driven vertical integration in the... View Details

Keywords: Tomatoes; Fresh Produce; Vertical Integration; Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States; Cuba; Central America

July 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

AllHerb.com: Evolution of an E-tailer

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Christina L. Darwall

Serial entrepreneur Ken Hakuta, in the second year of his latest venture, reconsiders his original strategy of maintaining an independent, self-funded, self-led company. His Internet herbal remedy company, AllHerb.com, has already enjoyed considerable success with its... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Strategic Planning; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Web Services Industry

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December 2022
Technical Note

Risks and Opportunities from the Transition to a Low Carbon Economy: A Business Analysis Framework

By: George Serafeim

The transition to a low carbon economy introduces many risks and opportunities for businesses. Risks emerge from regulatory actions, such as carbon taxes and cap and trade systems, technological innovation that develop alternatives for customers making existing... View Details

Keywords: Risk Assessment; Opportunities; Environmental Sustainability; Carbon Footprint; Risk Management; Competitive Dynamics; Business Analysis; Climate Change; Accounting; Finance; Valuation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Technological Innovation; Transition; Product Positioning; Renewable Energy; Analysis

February 2012 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Edward Lundberg and the Rockville Building: Energy Efficiency Finance in Commercial Real Estate

By: John D. Macomber and Frederik Nellemann

A commercial landlord analyzes options for funding and accomplishing energy efficiency retrofit. The situation is complicated by lease terms and uncertain effectiveness of the intervention. Students must grapple with obstacles including changing energy prices,... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Real Estate Industry