Publications

09 Sep 2013
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching Climate Change to Skeptics

A few years ago, Joseph B. Lassiter traveled to San Francisco, Houston, and New York to hold discussions with Harvard alumni on the topic of business and the environment. Each time, he surveyed the audience about the touchy subject of climate change and how society... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

24 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Link Between Language and Corporate Responsibility

with Liang and Luc Renneboog of Tilburg University, and Sunny Li Sun of the University of Missouri—Kansas City to study whether the same held true in business. Would a company's use of language, particularly by the CEO and other top... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

March 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Miami’s Climate Tech Potential (A): The State of Play

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Miami-Dade County led the work to get South Florida designated a national climate resilience tech hub, the only one of 31 focused on climate change, an urgent major issue for the region in light of global warming and sea level rise. Venture capitalists saw the... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Climate; Entrepreneur; Development; Startup; Climate Change; Venture Capital; Investment; Entrepreneurship; Green Technology; Government Administration; City; Miami

2023
Working Paper

Toward Decision-Useful Carbon Information

By: Gunther Glenk

Companies are increasingly viewed as crucial drivers for timely decarbonization. Current accounting practices for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, however, often leave corporate carbon disclosures and abatement obscured. Here I introduce a taxonomy for assuring the... View Details

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March 2012 (Revised February 2013)
Background Note

The Hybrid Vehicle Market

By: Michael W. Toffel and Nazli Z. Uludere Aragon

This note describes the hybrid electic vehicle market, the results of different automaker strategies, and the environmental regulatory issues that can promote or inhibit market growth in the United States. Introduces students to the technologies and regulatory aspects... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Product Development; Information Technology; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Japan; United States

2023
Working Paper

Cost-Efficient Decarbonization of Portland Cement Production

By: Gunther Glenk, Anton Kelnhofer, Rebecca Meier and Stefan Reichelstein

Accounting for nearly 8% of global annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the cement industry is considered difficult to decarbonize. While a sizeable number of abatement levers for Portland cement production is becoming technologically ready for deployment, many are... View Details

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July 2012
Case

Generation Investment Management

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Matthew Preble

Examines the investment process of Generation Investment Management, a "sustainable" investing firm established in 2004 by David Blood and U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Places students in the position of David Lowish, director of global industrials, who must decide... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Energy Generation; Investment; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Welfare; Financial Services Industry; India; United Kingdom

06 Nov 2019
Op-Ed

Torched Planet: The Business Case to Reinvent Almost Everything

The world is. on. fire. The Earth is burning. We only have a little time to arrest climate change, and if we fail to do so the consequences will be both dire and irreversible. We have the technology and the resources to fix things, if we want to. We even have a... View Details

Keywords: by Rebecca Henderson; Energy

March 1, 2021
Article

Transitioning to Clean Energy Transportation Services: Life-cycle Cost Analysis for Vehicle Fleets

By: Stephen Comello, Gunther Glenk and Stefan Reichelstein

Comprehensive global decarbonization requires that transportation services cease to rely on fossil fuels for power generation. This paper develops a generic, time-driven life-cycle cost model for mobility services to address two closely related questions central to the... View Details

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30 Jun 2020
Book

Capitalism Is More at Risk Than Ever

urge business leaders everywhere to seize this opportunity to rebuild public confidence in capitalism and its ability to function in a way that generates inclusive and sustainable prosperity,” write coauthors and HBS professors Joseph L.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

07 Sep 2019
Op-Ed

Even for Non-Believers, These Are the Next Steps on Climate Change

coastal cities like Mumbai or Lagos or Bangkok as people seek jobs or flee wars or drought. The fact of migration exposes more people to weather-related disturbances. If sea rise were to accelerate, many of the newcomers would be in... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber

06 Nov 2017
Research Event

Who is Responsible for the Future of Cities?

only be responding to innovations in the private sector,” she said. “Why is it that we assume that all the innovation will come from the private sector? Why can’t a city have an innovation lab?” Stefan Knupfer, a senior partner and leader... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

12 Nov 2013
First Look

First Look: November 12

public education linking an employer, the New York City K-12 public education system, and the city's two-year colleges. P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School) was a new concept, a six-year high school running to grade... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Mar 2007
Research & Ideas

The New Real Estate

diversification and reduce risk. This is the new world of real estate finance which, as my friend Harvard Business School professor Andre Perold will argue, is just catching up with everyone else. Sustainable Development View Details

Keywords: by Arthur I. Segel; Construction; Real Estate

March 2019 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Waymo LLC

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On December 5, 2018, Waymo LLC, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., launched the United States’ first commercial driverless-car ride-hailing service (Waymo One), based in Phoenix, Arizona. As with other ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft, Waymo One riders... View Details

February 2015 (Revised December 2016)
Case

Poseidon Carlsbad: Desalination and the San Diego County Water Authority

By: John Macomber

Extreme drought conditions in California have significant impacts on the ability of the San Diego County Water Authority to provide adequate water for current users. Water shortfalls also could curtail the economic development of one of the fastest growing regions in... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Partners and Partnerships; Resource Allocation; Public Sector; Private Sector; Environmental Sustainability; Policy; Infrastructure; Green Technology Industry; Utilities Industry; California