Environmental Sustainability →
- 13 Mar 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Why and How Investors Use ESG Information: Evidence from a Global Survey
Survey data from more than 400 senior investment professionals provides insights into why and how investors use environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information as well as the challenges in using this information. This study also documents what investors believe will be important ESG styles in the future.
- 30 Jan 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
The Environmental Legacies of The North Face's Doug Tompkins and Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard
The contrasting strategies taken by founders of Patagonia and The North Face provide a new lens on current debates about the ability of business to contribute to environmentalism. This paper suggests that the strategies of both founders bring positive environmental benefits but with trade-offs and limitations. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 09 Aug 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Shareholder Activism on Sustainability Issues
Shareholder proposals on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics have more than doubled in the last two decades. Testing the effect that ESG proposals have on firms’ subsequent ESG performance and market valuation, the authors find a considerable portion (42 percent) of ESG proposals to be financially beneficial and associated with subsequent increases in environmental and social performance, too. Managers need to identify significant sustainability issues, based on their industry, wisely because errors could be value-destroying as the authors show declines in financial value for the rest of the sample (58 percent).
- 01 Jul 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Entrepreneurs and the Co-Creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica
Costa Rica has grown as a mecca for ecotourism from the late twentieth century. Although biologists and other students of ecosystems and biodiversity were vital at the start of the process, as were conservation NGOs and the national government, this paper argues that entrepreneurs were also pivotal. While showing the benefits of ecotourism, it is also shown that as the industry scaled, there were increasing challenges of greenwashing.
- 09 May 2016
- Book
‘Big Teaming,’ Audacious Innovation, and the Uncompleted Dream of a Smart City
How do you organize a project that spans professions, industries, and even nations? A new book by Amy Edmondson and Susan Salter Reynolds describes the approach of 'big teaming' with a case study of a high-profile smart city. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 09 Feb 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Executive Compensation and Misconduct: Environmental Harm
To what extent does executive compensation push firms into environmental law-breaking in particular and misconduct in general? This study finds that changing a CEO’s compensation from 100 percent stock to 100 percent options resulted in a 60 percent increased odds of environmental harm and close to a doubling of the magnitude of harm. We find similar results for financial accounting misconduct. A rule change making the higher powered incentives more costly for firms to provide reduced incidences.
- 03 Dec 2015
- Op-Ed
How "New Nuclear" Power Could Save the Planet—If Regulators Would Allow It
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.
- 21 Nov 2015
- HBS Case
HBS Cases: Stella McCartney Combines High Fashion with Environmental Values
Fashion designer Stella McCartney is the subject of a recent case study by Anat Keinan showing that luxury and sustainability need not be mutually exclusive. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Aug 2015
- Research & Ideas
Obama’s Clean Power Plan: Can Nuclear Power Beat the Global Threat of Coal?
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.
- 17 Jun 2015
- Research & Ideas
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.
- 10 Jun 2015
- Research & Ideas
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.
- 11 May 2015
- Research & Ideas
A Road Map to Fix America’s Transportation Infrastructure
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.
- 13 Apr 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Implied Materiality and Material Disclosures of Credit Ratings
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.
- 13 Apr 2015
- Research & Ideas
3 Ways Firms Can Profit From Environmental Investments
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.
- 24 Mar 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Corporate Sustainability: First Evidence on Materiality
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.
- 23 Jan 2015
- Research & Ideas
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.
- 19 Dec 2014
- Research & Ideas
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.
- 08 Oct 2014
- Research & Ideas
Who Is the Chief Sustainability Officer?
There are only a few dozen chief sustainability officers in American companies, although their number has been growing rapidly. A new study by George Serafeim and Kathleen Miller explains who they are, where they come from, and how to make them more effective. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Sep 2014
- Research & Ideas
The Business of Climate Change
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.
More Than 900 Examples of How Climate Change Affects Business
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.