On May 10, 2023 distinguished faculty, HBS alumni and other business leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs convened at Harvard Business School for a groundbreaking day of discussion and interaction around what it takes to discover, develop, scale, and achieve meaningful progress on climate solutions. Through expert panels, case discussions, and networking, participants considered the role of the firm, individual business leaders, and HBS, as well as new business and investment opportunities. The conference, hosted by HBS External Relations in partnership with the Business & Environment Initiative was part of Harvard Climate Action Week.
Recordings of several of the day's sessions will be available to view on the Live from Klarman Hall webpage at the end of May.
HBS Conference Chairs
Eleanor Laurans
Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Jim Matheson
Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Lynn Schenk
Director of Business & Environment Initiative
George Serafeim
Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration
Peter Tufano
Baker Foundation Professor
- Agenda
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7:30 a.m. Registration & Networking Breakfast
8:30 a.m.
Welcome Remarks
Srikant M. Datar, Dean of the Faculty; George F. Baker Professor of Administration
George Serafeim (DBA 2010), Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration
Lynn Schenk, Director, HBS Business & Environment Initiative
PART 1: REIMAGINING THE SOLUTIONS INFRASTRUCTURE
8:45 a.m.
Plenary Sessions
How Climate Is Central to Every Business
Faculty Moderator: George Serafeim (DBA 2010), Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration
Speakers:
Shirley Lu, Assistant Professor of Business Administration
John Macomber (MBA 1983), Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Mike Toffel, Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management; Faculty Chair, HBS Business & Environment Initiative
Gunnar Trumbull (PMD 76, 2001), Phillip Caldwell Professor of Business Administration
This session will underscore that climate is a central business issue that extends across all business disciplines. To achieve climate goals, we need business leaders to build skills across disciplines and to understand how climate change considerations are being infused into all areas of management. Faculty from different units at HBS will illustrate the connection between climate change and their discipline through examples of cases they have written or taught.
9:40 a.m.
Toward a Decarbonized Future: Who Pays? Who Profits?
Faculty Moderator: Peter Tufano (MBA 1984, PHDBE 1989), Baker Foundation Professor
Speakers:
Scott Jacobs (MBA 2007), CEO & Cofounder, Generate Capital
Girish Nadkarni (MBA 1988), Senior Advisor, OCGI Climate Investments
Jayant Sinha (MBA 1992), Member of the Indian Parliament and Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance
Dan Stephens Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
What money do we need and what skills do we need to finance a decarbonized future? How can we–and must we–reimagine our approaches to finance to accomplish our climate goals? This session will demonstrate how financiers along the capital stack are examining climate risk, return, and opportunity to seed, pilot, and scale a wide range of impactful projects, companies, and markets.
10:45 a.m.
Rebuilding Industry and Infrastructure: The Need for a New Climate Workforce
Faculty Moderator: Eleanor Laurans (MBA 2006), Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Speakers:
Evette Ellis, Cofounder & Chief Workforce Officer, ChargerHelp!
Kate Gordon, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Energy, US Department of Energy
Gordon Jones, President, College of Western Idaho (CWI)
Building the workforce is critical to scaling climate ventures, to valuation, and to public uptake of climate technologies both existing and new. The current skills gap and workforce shortage could be one of the biggest obstacles to achieving our climate goals. This session will examine different approaches, from policy to trade schools to exciting new and incumbent companies putting the workforce at the core of their business models.
12:00 p.m.
Working Lunches
1:15 p.m.
Breakout Sessions
Case studies and topical discussions led by faculty and staff.
Deeper Dive: Gaps in the Capital Stack
Presenters: Spencer Glendon (Harvard PhD 1999), HBS Executive Fellow for Climate; Founder, Probable Futures
Lynn Schenk, Director, HBS Business & Environment Initiative
Building on the morning finance panel, this interactive discussion will aim to shed light on gaps in the capital stack that already—or will soon—slow or obstruct progress on climate solutions. Together we will crowdsource ideas to understand themes, articulate specific needs, and begin to identify new approaches and tools that could enable finance to fulfill its potential in both stabilizing the atmosphere and making society more resilient.
Measuring and Reducing Corporate Carbon Emissions
Faculty Presenters: Robert S. Kaplan, Senior Fellow and Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development, Emeritus
Shirley Lu, Assistant Professor of Business Administration
Kaplan's co-authored 2021 article, “Accounting for Climate Change,” introduced the E-liability carbon accounting system for measuring corporate supply chain emissions and won Harvard Business Review’s annual McKinsey Award. Over the past 18 months, a half-dozen global companies have successfully piloted the method, and a new HBS case written about Harvard University’s potential use of the method to quantify the benefits from sourcing a low-carbon concrete mix for new building projects. The breakout session will do a deep dive into this work, including a recent extension to the trading of carbon offsets.
Iberdrola: Leading the Energy Revolution
Faculty Presenters: Juan Alcacer, James J. Hill Professor of Business Administration
This case discussion focuses on Iberdrola, the world's third-largest utility, and its decisions to invest in green technologies. Iberdrola was an early investor in renewables, positioning itself as a leader driving the electric industry's role in the fight against climate change. In the case, chairman and CEO Ignacio Galán is weighing the firm's options to invest further in green technologies.
Northvolt: Building Batteries to Fight Climate Change
Faculty Presenters: Debora L. Spar (PMD 62, 1991), Jaime and Josefina Chua Tiampo Professor of Business Administration; Senior Associate Dean for Business and Global Society; Board Director, Thermo Fisher Scientific
This case discussion focuses on Northvolt, founded by two Swedish entrepreneurs in 2016 to address climate change and bring electric battery manufacturing to Europe. The company successfully built a “gigafactory” near the Arctic Circle and was soon on track to become one of the world’s largest and most sustainable battery manufacturers. But building “the world’s greenest battery” to fight climate change was a difficult—and perhaps unrealistic—goal. How much could Northvolt really contribute to the European effort against society’s greatest challenge?
Leadership and Climate Action in Cities
Faculty Presenter: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration
Bringing climate change down to earth (and actionable) means focusing on cities in which nearly all the salient issues intersect. Metropolitan areas are beginning to ramp up actions in the four main buckets: recovery (from climate-related disasters), adaptation, mitigation, and (to an extent) innovation, while also facing issues of climate justice. By examining the highly climate-vulnerable Miami area, we can identify the leadership challenges of finding and deploying solutions in a timely, effective, and equitable manner. (Hint: it’s not about the money, or the need for more big science.) Solutions involving gray (built) or green (natural) infrastructure rely on the human infrastructure – the infrastructure for collaboration. Business leaders – from established companies to climatetech entrepreneurs – can play a role as partners in cross-sector coalitions (but are too often missing).PART 2: SCALING ACCOUNTABILITY AND IMPACT
2:45 p.m.
Plenary Sessions
Driving Climate Performance through Accountability and Governance
Faculty Moderator: George Serafeim (DBA 2010), Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration
Speakers:
Carter Roberts (MBA 1988), President & CEO, World Wildlife Fund
Debora L. Spar (PMD 62, 1991), Jaime and Josefina Chua Tiampo Professor of Business Administration; Senior Associate Dean for Business and Global Society; Board Director, Thermo Fisher Scientific
Bonita Stewart (MBA 1983), Board Partner, Gradient Ventures
Lauren Taylor Wolfe, Cofounder & Managing Partner, Impactive Capital
This panel will highlight how we can effectively build the governance mechanisms for climate action. Thousands of companies have publicly announced targets for carbon reductions, aligned executive compensation with those targets, allocated resources to achieve those targets, and built board-level sustainability committees and structures to ensure the governance of their climate strategy. At the same time, investors are increasingly engaging with companies to drive climate action privately and by exercising their shareholder votes. Meanwhile, several NGOs have built certifications and other monitoring and assessment tools to understand how companies are progressing against their targets. This panel will explore the different mechanisms and ideas that have emerged on how to drive performance through accountability and governance.
3:50 p.m.
Competition or Collaboration? Navigating a Path for Successful Climate Alliances
Faculty Moderator: Peter Tufano (MBA 1984, PHDBE 1989), Baker Foundation Professor
Speakers:
Angela Barranco, Executive Director for North America, Climate Group
Mindy Lubber, President & CEO, Ceres
Curtis D. Ravenel, Senior Advisor, Co-Chair and Vice-Chair, Glasgow Alliance for Net Zero
Eric Usher, Head, UNEP Finance Initiative
Typically, we think of firms as being in perpetual competition with each other. When it comes to topics like climate, we need to shift to a perspective of collaboration. But this becomes a delicate balance between anti-competitive legal territory and the benefits of the collective development of standards and crystallization of emerging demand signals, all paving the way for smart regulation. This session will focus on what (climate) alliances do, why individual firms/investors would find it difficult to act alone, the management and leadership challenges of running an alliance, and the uncertain legal status of some of the groups.
4:40 p.m.
Beyond Business as Usual: Climate Disruptors
Faculty Moderator: Jim Matheson (MBA 2001), Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Speakers:
Danielle Colson (MBA 2022), Cofounder & Chief Operating Officer, Mantel
Richard Needham (MBA 2002), Chief Commercial Officer, Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Carmichael Roberts, Partner, Breakthrough Energy Ventures; Cofounder & Managing Partner, Material Impact
This session will allow the audience to draw inspiration from founders, innovators, and entrepreneurs in a range of businesses who are making real change. Short presentations from each disruptor will be followed by discussion focused on their examples of rethinking and disrupting business-as-usual to accelerate climate solutions.
5:45 p.m.
Closing Remarks
Your Role in the Climate Future
Peter Tufano (MBA 1984, PHDBE 1989)
Baker Foundation Professor
Closing Networking Reception
6:30 p.m.
Conclusion - Speaker Bios
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Juan Alcacer
James J. Hill Professor of Business Administration
Angela Barranco
Executive Director for North America, Climate Group
Danielle Colson (MBA 2022)
Cofounder & Chief Operating Officer, Mantel
Srikant Datar
Dean of the Faculty; George F. Baker Professor of Administration
Evette Ellis
Cofounder & Chief Workforce Officer, ChargerHelp!
Spencer Glendon (Harvard PhD 1999)
Founder, Probable Futures
Kate Gordon
Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Energy, US Department of Energy
Scott Jacobs (MBA 2007)
CEO & Cofounder, Generate Capital
Gordon Jones
President, College of Western Idaho (CWI)
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration
Robert S. Kaplan
Senior Fellow and Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development, Emeritus
Shirley Lu
Assistant Professor of Business Administration
Mindy Lubber
President & CEO, Ceres
John D. Macomber
Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Girish Nadkarni (MBA 1988)
Senior Advisor, OGCI Climate Investments
Richard Needham (MBA 2002)
Chief Commercial Officer, Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Curtis D. Ravenel
Senior Advisor, Co-Chair and Vice-Chair of Glasgow Alliance for Net Zero
Carmichael Roberts
Partner, Breakthrough Energy Ventures; Cofounder & Managing Partner, Material Impact
Carter Roberts (MBA 1988)
President & CEO, World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
Jayant Sinha (MBA 1992)
Member of the Indian Parliament; Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance, Parliament of India
Debora L. Spar
Jaime and Josefina Chua Tiampo Professor of Business Administration; Senior Associate Dean for Business and Global Society; Board Director, Thermo Fisher Scientific
Dan Stephens
Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
Bonita C. Stewart (MBA 1983)
Board Partner, Gradient Ventures
Michael W. Toffel
Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management; Faculty Chair, HBS Business & Environment Initiative
Gunnar Trumbull (PMD 76, 2001)
Phillip Caldwell Professor of Business Administration
Eric Usher
Head, UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative
Lauren Taylor Wolfe
Cofounder & Managing Partner, Impactive Capital
- Who Should Attend
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Accelerating Climate Solutions is intended for alumni business leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs who lead organizations or otherwise have a strong professional or personal focus on sustainability, innovation, and climate solutions.
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