Educating, Connecting, and Mobilizing Around Climate Change

01 Dec 2022

Educating, Connecting, and Mobilizing Around Climate Change

Institute to amplify the work of the Business and Environment Initiative

Re: Michael W. Toffel (Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management); George Serafeim (Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration); Peter Tufano (Baker Foundation Professor); Rebecca M. Henderson (John and Natty McArthur University Professor); Shirley Lu (Assistant Professor of Business Administration); By: Jennifer Gillespie

Topics: Environment-Weather and Climate Change Environment-Environmental Sustainability Research-General Education-Curriculum and Courses

Climatologists predict that climate change will lead to an increase in rapidly intensifying storms like Hurricane Ian in Florida. Photo by iStock

Michael Toffel. Photo by Evgenia Eliseeva

Since its founding in 2010, the Business and Environment Initiative (BEI) at HBS has worked to educate students and business leaders about the environmental challenges and opportunities confronting companies and organizations today, and advance faculty research that inspires meaningful solutions for tomorrow. The BEI aims to leverage HBS’s unique platform to help move the needle on climate change and accelerate climate solutions.

Critical issues such as these are also among the focal points for HBS’s new Institute for the Study of Business in Global Society (BiGS). Established earlier this year as a research-based platform to address topics of worldwide import to business, BiGS integrates and amplifies work currently underway at HBS and sparks new avenues of inquiry. In the case of climate change, that means exploring ways to share the research output of HBS’s 40+ BEI faculty affiliates who are examining a wide range of climate- and sustainability-related topics. Contributing to this body of knowledge will be the work generated by the BiGS Climate Fellows, who will collaborate with the BEI next year. Additionally, BiGS works with the BEI on convenings, including a faculty seminar series focusing on topics such as “Accounting for Climate Change.”

Lynn Schenk. Photo by Nina Schenk

“The BEI’s mission is to educate, connect, and mobilize students, faculty, alumni, and other business leaders around climate change and related environmental priorities,” explains Michael Toffel, the Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management. In his role as faculty chair overseeing the BEI, he collaborates with Lynn Schenk, BEI director, who adds: “We’re not debating whether climate change is real or caused by human activity. We’re laser-focused on deepening the core areas of climate-related research and teaching at the School to accelerate climate solutions and help society adapt to the changes already upon us. We are seeking to maximize ways to reach the broad community of practitioners who can both benefit from and inform this work, through cocurricular student activities, entrepreneurial supports, and relevant convenings. We look forward to working with BiGS on this.”

As part of this strategy, the BEI contributes to the development of curricula in both the MBA Program and Executive Education. Toffel notes that while several climate-related cases are included in the first-year MBA Required Curriculum, the BEI is exploring what additional climate change content all MBA students should be exposed to, especially as nearly 50 percent of admitted students are interested in business and the environment. In the MBA Program’s Elective Curriculum, nine business-and-environment-related electives are offered this year. In addition, two new offerings are being introduced: an immersive field course that will take students to visit renewable energy and sustainable production sites in Denmark and the Netherlands, and a short intensive program (SIP) on Accelerating Climate Solutions. This SIP is the third in three years addressing climate and sustainability topics that faculty and the BEI have developed.

BUSINESS AS A FORCE FOR GOOD IN SOCIETY

REBECCA HENDERSON, John and Natty McArthur University Professor

Rebecca Henderson’s research explores the degree to which business can play a major role in building a more sustainable economy. She focuses particularly on how firms can safeguard economic growth and long-term profitability by addressing challenges like climate change and inequality, actively contributing to the health of our institutions, and becoming a trusted partner of governments and other actors in building a just and regenerative society.

Key takeaway: “We need to transform the entire economy—the built environment, our agricultural systems, and how we deal with energy. It’s a massive undertaking that is going to touch nearly every aspect of our lives and is going to be an incredible source of opportunity for entrepreneurial activity.”

SHIRLEY LU, Assistant Professor of Business Administration

Shirley Lu conducts research on how companies communicate environmental and social information. Some of her work examines the comparability of ESG metrics in voluntary sustainability reports, the relationship between ESG disclosure and performance, and how green bonds provide institutional oversight that helps bring credibility to firms’ environmental commitments.

Key takeaway: “Standardized and comparable measures are the starting point for meaningful evaluation of a firm’s environmental performance. Imagine if every firm discloses the same emissions metrics, we can then ask questions: Why is one metric higher for a firm? Is it due to variation in external conditions, the company’s decarbonization efforts, business models, or measurement assumptions?”

GEORGE SERAFEIM, Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration

George Serafeim’s research increasingly focuses on the intersection between sustainability and digital transformation. Over the years his research has spanned four main areas: business strategies in the context of climate change transition risk and opportunities, measuring and analyzing purpose inside organizations, ESG data analytics and strategies, and the role of leadership and governance in corporate scandals and misconduct.

Key takeaway: “We are still at the early stages of developing a measurement technology for how to judge the way organizations impact people and the environment, but we are making very significant progress. With transparency comes accountability and eventually the opportunities for entrepreneurship, investments, and creation of business solutions.”

MICHAEL TOFFEL, Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management, BEI Faculty Chair

Michael Toffel studies how companies are managing environmental and working conditions in their operations and supply chains, including how companies are engaging in decarbonization. He hosts the HBS Climate Rising podcast, and co-leads the new Sustainability and Climate Impact Lab at the Digital, Data, and Design Institute at Harvard with HBS professors George Serafeim and Peter Tufano.

Key takeaway: “Many companies are racing to invent, finance, scale, and deploy technologies to decarbonize—while they are also figuring out how to become more resilient against climate change. The decarbonization transition would accelerate if more governments enacted policies to price carbon, and companies have the opportunity to encourage that.”