Environmental And Social Sustainability - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Dec 2020
News

The Camel and the Unicorn

unquenchable appetite for growth and capital. You might remember this scene from 2010’s The Social Network: Movie clip That was a fictionalized telling of Facebook’s rise, but those numbers are real. Silicon... View Details

Article

Voluntary Simplicity Lifestyles and Energy Conservation

By: D. A. Leonard

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability

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January 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Should a Pension Fund Try to Change the World? Inside GPIF's Embrace of ESG

By: George Serafeim

In the fall of 2018, Hiro Mizuno, the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of GPIF, the Japanese Government Pension Fund, was reflecting on his efforts to integrate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues into every aspect of GPIF’s portfolio. His efforts ranged... View Details

Keywords: Pension Funds; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Investment Funds; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Governance; Leading Change; Economy; Performance Improvement; Japan

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September–October 1991
Article

Knee-Deep and Rising: America's Recycling Crisis

By: George C. Lodge and Jeffrey F. Rayport

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Crisis Management

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22 Nov 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Carbon Tariffs: Impacts on Technology Choice, Regional Competitiveness, and Global Emissions

Keywords: by David F. Drake; Manufacturing

May 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Harvard University and Urban Mining Industries: Decarbonizing the Supply Chain

By: Shirley Lu and Robert S. Kaplan

The case describes Harvard University’s consideration to decarbonize its supply chain by replacing cement with a low-carbon substitute called Pozzotive®. Developed and produced by Urban Mining Industries, Pozzotive® is a ground-glass material made with post-consumer... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Blockchain; Supply Chain; Green Technology; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability

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01 Dec 2019
News

Shaping Leaders Who Understand Business and the Environment

Administration. Serafeim teaches Reimagining Capitalism: Business and Big Problems, one of several electives in the MBA Program that focus on environmental and View Details

Keywords: April White

Pedro Tarak

Keywords: B Corporation

March 2022
Article

Carbon Footprinting and Pricing under Climate Concerns

By: Marco Bertini, Stefan Buehler, Daniel Halbheer and Don Lehmann

This article studies how organizations should design a product by choosing the carbon footprint and price in a market with climate concerns. The authors first show how the cost and demand effects of reducing the product carbon footprint determine the profit-maximizing... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Footprint; Carbon Offsetting; Climate Impact; Net-zero Emissions; Pricing; Climate Change; Product Design; Price; Environmental Sustainability; Marketing

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18 Nov 2002
Research & Ideas

Where Morals and Profits Meet: The Corporate Value Shift

conflicts of interest, myriad examples of bribery and extortion, unfair and predatory competition, theft and misappropriation of information, civic View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

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

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11 Oct 2021
Blog Post

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

As a teenager, Morgan Sheil (MBA 2021) developed a keen interest in the environment and climate change. That sustained interest, along with her drive to make a positive impact on the world, led Sheil across... View Details

05 Nov 2021
Op-Ed

Is the Business World Finally Ready for the Wisdom of Shibusawa?

Eiichi Shibusawa continues to gain influence in Japan—even though he died almost a century ago. Japan’s government announced earlier this year that the 19th century business leader would be the face on 10,000 yen ($90) bank notes—the highest value denomination in... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Rei Morimoto; Financial Services; Retail

May 2011
Article

The Growing Power of Non-financial Reports

By: Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

We are exploring the value of forcing corporations to issue sustainability reports, which provide information about corporate performance in terms of social, environmental and governance issues. In a breakthrough study they asked, what is the effect of mandatory... View Details

Keywords: Value; Reports; Performance; Management Practices and Processes; Globalization; Power and Influence; Natural Environment; Governance; Social Issues

Citation

June 2025
Teaching Note

The Miccosukee Tribe and the Battle to Save the Everglades (B): The Art of Coalition Building

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 325-132. Curtis Osceola, Chief of Staff to the Chairman of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, exercised leadership to mobilize allies, deal with opposition, and forge internal and external multi-sector coalitions to help preserve... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Leadership; Projects; Alliances; Natural Environment; Power and Influence; Florida; Everglades National Park

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28 Apr 2022
Blog Post

Harvard Team Wins Second Place in MIINT Impact Investing Competition

Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School joined together in teams of 5-6 students, sourced investments in high-impact startups, and conducted due diligence on the business opportunity, financial... View Details

08 Apr 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

The Life of Luxury and How to Sell It

maker better off emphasizing performance over luxury? Are luxury and sustainability mutually exclusive? And just what is the “new aspirational lifestyle?” Here is what they... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Auto; Retail; Fashion

July 2015 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Erin L. Henry, Andreas Georgoulias and Natalie Bartlett

Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank details the development of the bank's new Office of Outreach Partnerships to sustain a culture of innovation through maintaining and generating partnerships in order to fulfill the bank's greater... View Details

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Brian Trelstad is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School in the General Management Unit and the Faculty Chair of the Advanced Leadership Initiative. He teaches elective courses on Social Entrepreneurship and Systems... View Details

Keywords: education industry; health care; service industry; emerging market private equity; private equity (other); venture capital industry

June 2022
Case

Mossadeq’s Gambit: The US, UK, and Iranian Oil Nationalization

By: Jeremy Friedman and Jingyu Liu

Many of the West’s political problems in the Middle East and in Iran in particular can be traced to the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh by military forces supported by the American CIA and the British MI6 in August 1953. Mossadegh, at the head of a... View Details