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New research on energy from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including energy sources, energy conservation, and sustainable business practices.
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The ESG-Innovation Disconnect: Evidence from Green Patenting

by Lauren Cohen, Umit G. Gurun, and Quoc H. Nguyen

Energy-producing firms are more likely to produce “blockbuster” green patents than other firms. Yet energy firms are excluded from many environmental, social, and governance (ESG) funds, and are the targets of divestiture campaigns whose stated aims often include green energy innovation.

The Business of Saving the Planet

by Sean Silverthorne

The biggest challenge facing today's business leaders? Putting their operations in harmony with the environment. Read the latest research around building sustainability into business processes and management practices. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Green Businesses Are Incredibly Difficult to Make Profitable. Try It Anyway

by Dina Gerdeman

Making a business successful is a challenge in itself, but making a green business profitable is an even harder journey. For society's sake, entrepreneurs must be prepared to make that journey, says Geoffrey Jones. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

What’s the Best Administrative Approach to Climate Change?

by James Heskett

SUMMING UP: James Heskett's readers point to examples of complex environmental problems conquered through multinational cooperation. Can those serve as roadmaps for overcoming global warming? Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Op-Ed: Why Private Investors Must Fund 'New Nuclear' Power Right Now

by Joseph Lassiter

Joseph Lassiter has high hopes for “new nuclear” technology, which he believes can meet the world’s urgent demand for power. But its success requires big, immediate investments from the private sector. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

More Than 900 Examples of How Climate Change Affects Business

by Carmen Nobel

MBA students participating in Harvard Business School’s Climate Change Challenge offer ideas on how companies can negate impacts from a changing environment. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Bigbelly's Big Bet on the Digital Trash Can

by Michael Blanding

Bigbelly wants to transform its solar-powered trash cans into digital hubs offering Wi-Fi access, advertising, and data-collecting sensors. (Oh, and garbage receptacles, too.) A new case study by Mitchell Weiss explores the challenges of a bold strategy pivot. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

How "New Nuclear" Power Could Save the Planet—If Regulators Would Allow It

by Joseph Lassiter

The barriers to rapid progress in next-generation nuclear power are certainly not technical and probably not even economic, argues Joseph Lassiter. The greatest barriers today are in outdated nuclear regulations. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Obama’s Clean Power Plan: Can Nuclear Power Beat the Global Threat of Coal?

by Carmen Nobel

Joe Lassiter believes the smart use of nuclear power is an essential ingredient in fighting the worldwide threat of coal-fired power plant emissions. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Michael Porter on America’s Historic Energy Opportunity

America is caught in a divisive debate over energy strategy, which threatens our nation's economic and environmental goals. "There is an urgent need for the US to get on a new path," according to a new report by Michael E. Porter, David S. Gee, and Gregory J. Pope. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

The Transparency Revolution in Corporate Reporting

Professor George Serafeim looks at how standardizing the way companies report data on their social and environmental initiatives could effect revolutionary change in the stock market. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

A Road Map to Fix America’s Transportation Infrastructure

by Dina Gerdeman

Why is America's transportation system so outdated, why should we care, and what can we do about it? Rosabeth Moss Kanter offers a road map to roadway recovery in her new book, Move: Putting America's Infrastructure Back in the Lead. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Implied Materiality and Material Disclosures of Credit Ratings

by Robert G. Eccles & Tim Youmans

Materiality—a concept at the core of financial, sustainability, and integrated reporting—means the "reportability" of economic, environmental, social, and governance (risk) issues. Using the lens of materiality, the authors of this paper examine principles underlying the methodologies and business models of credit reporting agencies (CRAs), finding that CRAs have potential governance shortcomings that need to be addressed by the boards of the CRAs themselves. The governance remedies recommended here aim to restore credit rating institutions to their historic role in the proper functioning of the global capital markets. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

3 Ways Firms Can Profit From Environmental Investments

by Carmen Nobel

Rebecca Henderson lays out three ways for firms to profit from investing in environmental sustainability: forestalling risk, increasing operational efficiency, and selling to the environmental niche. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Corporate Sustainability: First Evidence on Materiality

by Mozaffar Khan, George Serafeim & Aaron Yoon

The relatively new class of corporate investments known as sustainability investments has attracted the attention of firms, institutional investors, academics, and societal advocacy groups. This paper examines in depth how such investments enhance value for shareholders. Results overall show that investments in material sustainability issues can be value-enhancing for shareholders while investments in immaterial sustainability issues have little positive or negative, if any, value implications. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Oil Price Fallout: What Happens Next?

Oil producers are in shock, and consumers are shockingly happy. Richard Vietor discusses the geopolitical changes around dropping oil prices—and how long this all might last. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

China’s Complicated Relationship With Mother Nature

Bill Kirby discusses how a historic international accord on reducing environmental emissions might signal a greener future for the world's most populous nation. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

The Business of Climate Change

Re: Multiple Faculty

What is the role of business and its leaders in creating positive climate change? In the middle of Climate Week, Six Harvard Business School faculty provide different perspectives. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

The ABCs of Addressing Climate Change (From a Business Perspective)

by John Macomber

How can business leaders cut through the noise and actively address climate change from an economic perspective? John Macomber proposes a list of ABCs. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Stop Thinking of Climate Change as a Religious or Political Issue

by Forest Reinhardt

Private and public innovation around cleaning up our environment will be motivated only if prices reflect the true state of the world, says Forest Reinhardt. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.