News & Highlights

  • May 2025
  • Climate Rising Podcast

Designing for Circularity at Scale: IKEA Featured on Climate Rising

How does a global retailer like IKEA embed circularity into its products, business model, and operations? In this Climate Rising episode, Harvard Business School Professor Mike Toffel speaks with Karen Pflug, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ingka Group, about IKEA’s efforts to extend product life cycles, support secondhand retail, and scale mattress recycling. The episode is tied to ongoing case work supported by the Europe Research Center (ERC) and highlights how design, policy, and customer engagement can accelerate circularity across 31 countries.
  • May 2025
  • HBS Business & Environment Blog

On the Ground in Iceland: HBS Energy & Environment Club’s Climate Trek

What does it look like when an entire country runs on renewables? This past February, 50 MBA students from the HBS Energy & Environment Club traveled to Iceland to explore how clean energy, circular systems, and climate innovation are shaping the country’s future. In this reflection, MBA student Sabrina Montovanelli (HBS MBA 2026) reports on the trek, highlighting insights shared by local hosts—including several HBS alumni—who are helping drive Iceland’s bold energy transition.
  • April 2025
  • Climate Rising Podcast

Reimagining Reuse: The Vytal Case Featured on Climate Rising

How can businesses shift consumer behavior to reduce packaging waste—and make reuse work at scale? In this episode of Climate Rising, Harvard Business School Professor Mike Toffel speaks with Fabian Barthel, Co-Founder of Vytal, about the company’s packaging-as-a-service model. Supported by the Europe Research Center (ERC), the case at the heart of the episode explores behavioral science, regulatory shifts, and business model innovation driving circular solutions in the food industry.

New Research on the Region

  • August 2025
  • Teaching Material

ZEISS: Commercializing Science

PowerPoint Supplement for HBS Case No. 725-359.

  • August 2025
  • Teaching Material

Social Enterprise in Europe

By: Brian Trelstad, Hugo Etchegoyhen and Tonia Labruyere

  • July 2025
  • Case

Toilets for the Underserved: The SURT Commercialization Challenge

By: Maria P. Roche, Anne Marie Knott and Alexander Oettl

In 2021, a breakthrough in sanitation technology developed under the Gates Foundation’s “Reinvent the Toilet” initiative stood ready for commercialization. The Single User Reinvented Toilet (SURT), engineered by Dr. Shannon Yee, offered an off-grid, self-contained system capable of processing waste, generating water, and reducing environmental impact. Despite technical success, bringing the SURT to market faced complex challenges in behavior change, infrastructure compatibility, financing models, and stakeholder incentives. This case explores the commercialization dilemma: Should SURT be piloted independently in a developing market, licensed to appliance firms, or tailored for government/military procurement? Students must grapple with the strategic, operational, and ethical complexities of scaling a technology designed to serve the world’s most underserved populations.

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