Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,164)
- Faculty Publications (638)
- September 2023
- Supplement
CMA CGM: Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Container Shipping
By: Willy Shih
Marine transport is the most cost-effective way to move large volumes over long distances, and container shipping is the backbone of international trade in goods. Yet shipping contributed 3% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, and the deep-sea segment, which... View Details
- September 2023
- Teaching Note
CMA CGM: Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Container Shipping
By: Willy Shih
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 623-006. Marine transport is the most cost-effective way to move large volumes over long distances, and container shipping is the backbone of international trade in goods. Yet shipping contributed 3% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions,... View Details
- September 2023
- Background Note
Amager Bakke: Municipal Waste to Energy
By: Willy Shih, Michael W. Toffel and Kelsey Carter
This background note describes the Amager Bakke waste-to-energy (WtE) plant in Copenhagen, which merges traditional waste incineration with a combined heat and power (CHP) plant and air pollution control (scrubbing) technology, and had plans to add carbon dioxide (CO2)... View Details
Keywords: Decarbonization; Innovation; Innovation Focused Strategy; Environmental Operations; Circular; Waste Heat Recovery; Waste Management; Carbon Regulation; Buildings and Facilities; Energy Generation; Environmental Sustainability; Pollution; Climate Change; Wastes and Waste Processing; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Energy Industry; Denmark; Netherlands; Europe; European Union
- September 2023 (Revised March 2024)
- Case
ReMo Energy: Sizing Up Investors
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Tom Quinn
In 2023, executives with ReMo Energy (founded 2020) were deciding which size ammonia plant to build as their first project. Their innovative model produced ammonia—useful for making fertilizer and for energy storage—from renewable energy, and they had received funding... View Details
Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Startups; Cost vs Benefits; Design; Energy Conservation; Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Venture Capital; Investment Return; Goods and Commodities; Size; Infrastructure; Risk and Uncertainty; Science-Based Business; Commercialization; Technological Innovation; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; United States; Boston
- September 2023
- Article
The Health Costs of Dirty Energy: Evidence from the Capacity Market in Colombia
By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Theresa Molina, Anant Nyshadham, Jorge Tamayo and Nicholas Torres
The health effects of “dirty” (fossil fuel driven) energy production are difficult to measure accurately due to the endogeneity of fuel choice. We exploit an electricity policy in Colombia that generates a price-based trigger for the use of thermal energy sources.... View Details
- September–October 2023
- Article
The New Era of Industrial Policy Is Here
By: Willy C. Shih
Governments around the world are increasingly intervening in the private sector through industrial policies designed to help domestic sectors reach goals that markets alone are unlikely to achieve. Companies in targeted sectors—such as automakers, energy companies, and... View Details
- August 2023 (Revised October 2024)
- Case
Accounting Outages at Plug Power? (A)
By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli and James Barnett
Set immediately after a December 2019 short-seller attack, the case explores Plug Power’s long challenging history. It then focuses on two key issues raised in the short-seller report related to lease accounting and stock warrants that Plug purportedly used to boost... View Details
- August 2023 (Revised October 2024)
- Supplement
Accounting Outages at Plug Power? (B)
By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli and James Barnett
The case is set in spring 2021, immediately after Plug Power made financial restatements dating back to 2018. The case describes the restatements, which revealed that Plug was reclassifying expense items to boost gross profits. View Details
- August 2023 (Revised July 2024)
- Technical Note
Power-to-X
By: Willy Shih, Michael W. Toffel and Kelsey Carter
To reduce greenhouse gas emissions that were contributing to climate change, the world needs to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Power-to-X (PtX) refers to an array of processes that convert electricity (power) to various gaseous and liquid... View Details
- August 2023 (Revised September 2023)
- Case
T.G.S. Transportation: Battery Electric or Hydrogen?
By: Willy C. Shih
Peter Schneider, the President of T.G.S. Transportation, Inc., faced a choice. His company operated drayage trucks that moved containerized cargo between the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland to customers across the State of California, with a focus on the... View Details
- 2025
- Working Paper
Residential Battery Storage - Reshaping the Way We Do Electricity
By: Christian Kaps and Serguei Netessine
In this paper, we aim to understand when private households invest in behind-the-meter battery storage next to rooftop solar and how those batteries impact households, the electricity market, and emissions. We answer three main research questions: 1) When do customers... View Details
- 2025
- Working Paper
When Where Watt: Harnessing the Value of Time and Location for Renewable Electricity Generation
By: Vishrut Rana, Christian Kaps and Serguei Netessine
Problem definition: Investments in renewable energy have surged worldwide in recent years, with over $2 trillion spent globally on clean energy. This surge was driven by growing policy support, concerns about energy security, and, most importantly, the cost... View Details
- July 2023
- Supplement
Reimagining Enel: Enabling Sustainable Progress (A)
By: Michael Tushman and Kerry Herman
This case describes the transformation of Enel from a traditional “brown” or fossil fuel energy firm to a sustainable and green firm focused on renewables, and finally to an energy supplier and integrated energy services firm. It describes a set of capabilities... View Details
- June 2023
- Case
Investing in the Climate Transition at Neuberger Berman
By: George Serafeim and Benjamin Maletta
By mid-2023, Neuberger Berman (NB), an active asset manager, had grown its assets under management to about half a trillion dollars and took pride in its client centricity and innovative spirit. Responding to client demand for investment products that integrated... View Details
Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Sustainability; Decarbonization; Performance; Risk Assessment; Opportunities; Environmental Sustainability; Carbon Footprint; Business Analysis; Investing; Regulation; Asset Management; Investment Strategy; Climate Change; Transition; Analysis; Product Positioning; Strategy; Investment Portfolio; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry
- June 2023
- Case
Royal Golden Eagle: Pursuing Cross-border Expansion with Bold Ambition
By: Kristin E. Fabbe, Dante Roscini, Adina Wong and Dawn H. Lau
About how Singapore-based natural resources firm Royal Golden Eagle, starting with a palm oil business in Indonesia, eventually expanded into a global conglomerate that also included the kraft pulp and paper, viscose, and natural gas industries. View Details
- June 2023 (Revised February 2024)
- Case
Betting on Green Steel
By: George Serafeim and Sofoklis Melissovas
'Betting on Green Steel' traces the innovative journey embarked upon by a group of MBA students who have set out to conceive a novel steelmaker that pioneers the production of green steel. The ensemble is confronted with a series of critical choices that will shape the... View Details
- May 2023
- Case
Natural Gas in New England
By: Robin Greenwood, Richard S. Ruback and Gil Highet
Participants in the New England power market are exploring several strategies to meet the region's renewable power goals while also providing its residents with inexpensive and reliable electricity and heating fuel. New England was a first-mover into natural gas power... View Details
- May 2023
- Article
Decarbonizing Health Care: Engaging Leaders in Change
By: Vivian S. Lee, Kathy Gerwig, Emily Hough, Kedar Mate, Robert Biggio and Robert S. Kaplan
Health care leaders are often surprised to learn that their operations contribute
significantly to a warming climate. In addition to their roles as responders to and victims
of extreme weather events, health care organizations have an obligation to reduce... View Details
- April 2023 (Revised April 2025)
- Case
Eike Batista: Making or Breaking Brazil
By: Geoffrey Jones, Pedro Magalhães, Daniel Tong and Marcel Anduiza
This case explores the meteoric rise and fall of Eike Batista, once Brazil’s richest person and the world’s seventh wealthiest in 2012. Batista began his career by investing in gold mining in the Amazon, using the network his father had built after years serving as... View Details
- January 2023 (Revised December 2023)
- Case
OhmConnect: Energizing the Future
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Jennifer Fonstad and Nicole Tempest Keller
Founded in 2013, OhmConnect was a free consumer web app that alerted customers about peak hours of electricity demand, and paid them to lower their energy use at home during these periods. The company sold the aggregated reductions generated by thousands of households... View Details
Keywords: App Development; Renewable Energy; Electricity Usage; Regulations; VC; Technology; Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC); Scalability; Applications and Software; Growth and Development Strategy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business Model; Venture Capital; Energy Industry; United States; California; Texas; Europe