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- Course
This course is intended for MBA students interested in the science, economics and business impact of Climate Change and the implications of Climate Change for their career. The course is designed to provide an understanding of Climate Change through the lens of both risk and opportunity and how Climate Change is affecting decision-making in business.
What are the skills that this course is intended to develop?
• Understanding and communicating the business implications of a changing climate
• Developing strategies for business sustainability in the context of a changing climate
• Understanding the actions businesses can take to improve the climate outlook
• Helping businesses prepare for the emergence of a climate-aware economy
Co-discovery
The field of Climate Change and its relevance for business strategy is a rapidly evolving domain. Each of us brings our individual knowledge, experience and perspective to the conversation. It is my hope that each of you will share your knowledge freely with the class. For that to work, it is essential that you commit to a process of co-discovery: you are asked to go the extra mile in terms of bringing value to our class. While there is no short-list of easy solutions to the matters we will cover, there is a path forward for us in making wiser, more informed climate decisions.
- Topics on: Analytics, Decarbonization, Energy, Investing, Technology
- Course
This course explores the growth of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing with a particular focus on the role of public capital markets in helping to address sustainable development goals (https://sdgs.un.org/goals). ESG is increasingly mainstream – for example, the largest global network of investors, the UN-sponsored Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) has now over 3,000 signatories managing with over US$100 trillion in assets (https://www.unpri.org/about-us/about-the-pri). However, there is an active debate regarding every aspect (definitions, measurement, regulation, etc.) with claims of “greenwashing” and also a backlash against ESG which strengthens the need for a critical and evidence-based exploration of the field. This course covers some of the major ESG investing approaches (screening, thematic, integration and engagement) in capital markets and takes a global perspective. It includes a special module on Climate Finance that covers the physical, transition and regulatory risks of climate change and the need to finance a shift to a net-zero carbon economy. A few guest speakers will provide additional ideas and tools to interpret the case studies and enrich the class discussion.
Course Objectives:
- Explore the evolving ESG investing landscape both from the point of view of investors choosing investments and firms responding to investor activities
- Understand how to incorporate ESG factors into investment decisions and analyze the different approaches across a range of asset classes.
- Gain insights into climate risk and examine climate-focused investing solutions and their effectiveness in combating climate change.
- Topics on: ESG, Finance, Investing
- Course
What is the ultimate responsibility of companies? Fifty years ago, the consensus was that the answer to this question should be maximizing profit and shareholders’ value. Today, however, the answer is more complex. Companies are increasingly being held accountable for environmental and social responsibilities, in addition to their economic performance. As a result, the traditional principles of marketing developed during the 20th century are also being challenged and revised to embrace sustainability as a core component of business.
Sustainable marketing is the process of creating and delivering value to customers in a manner that respects or enhances both the environment and society. Through lectures, case studies, interactive discussions, and guest speakers, students in this course will learn about the principles of sustainable marketing across various industries (e.g., apparel, food, automotive, technology), as well as gain a deep understanding of the sustainable consumer. By the end of the course, students will be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to develop effective sustainable marketing plans that can drive positive change in the business world. In line with these learning objectives, the course is divided into three main modules: (1) Defining sustainable marketing, (2) Understanding the sustainable consumer, and (3) Developing a sustainable marketing plan.
- Topics on: Marketing, Strategy
- Course
The climate tech sector includes climate change solutions such as renewable energy, batteries, electric vehicles, carbon capture, hydrogen, food tech, smart agriculture, green real estate, and advanced materials. These sectors represent considerable growth opportunities in the coming decades, which means job opportunities and meaningful career paths for students. For example, Bloomberg projects that $10 trillion will be invested in solar, wind and batteries by 2050.
Through “in the trenches” input from guest speakers (founders and investors across the US) and practice-oriented assignments, students will become more fluent with certain skills and tools, such as the following: (1) sizing markets, (2) doing competitor analysis, (3) preparing to raise investor capital, (5) using investor databases, and (5) negotiating term sheets.
- Topics on: Finance, Impact, Technology
- Course
The course concentrates in four thematic fields: Ecosystem Services, Economic Valuation, Climate Change and Water. These topics will be assessed within a business context.
- Topics on: Finance, Operations
- Course
Plants are at the intersection of at least a dozen problems and opportunities in our food system: climate change, personal, public and planetary health, nutrition insecurity, biodiversity, social justice, food access, diversity and inclusion, soil health, law and policy, technology, animal welfare, and antibiotic resistance. Build critical systems thinking competencies at the intersection of agriculture, nutrition, climate science, behavioral science, economics, entrepreneurship and ethics with plant-centric food systems.
- Topics on: Impact, Justice
- Course
This is a course provided by Berkeley Haas on Carbon Footprint Analysis for Innovation. The course is 1 credit for an MBA course degree program. The course code is EWMBA292T.14/MBA292T.1.
- Topics on: Strategy, Technology
- Course
This course is intended for students with an interest in how climate change is impacting business, and how business sustainability depends both on mitigating climate impacts and on adaptation to ongoing climate change.
- Topics on: Decarbonization, Technology
- Course
The key responsibilities of those managing the Haas Sustainable Investment Fund, include: b. establishing priority sustainability issue areas, investment vehicles, and selection criteria, these could be related to specific sustainability issue areas such as Climate or Human Rights or to particular investment vehicles such as public or private equity
- Topics on: Investing, Strategy
- Course
Impact Investing, in the broad sense used in this class, is a discipline which seeks to generate social benefits as well as financial returns. From boutique beginnings, Impact Investing has surged into the mainstream of global money management, now affecting trillions of dollars of assets. The greatest demand is for strategies and products that promote social good while having expected returns competitive with non-impact options, although many other approaches exist.
Impact Investing and the associated ESG investing paradigm also permeate the agendas of policymakers, asset owners including pension plans and sovereign wealth funds, wealthy and retail investors, corporate managers, academia, and philanthropic foundations. A distinct career specialization for finance professionals has emerged, and the diversity of its applications is spreading the new discipline’s influence throughout world markets.
- Topics on: ESG, Impact
- Course
The objective of this course is to provide students with detailed knowledge of corporate structures, valuation methods, project finance, risk management practices, corporate governance issues, and geo-political and technological risks in the energy industry. In general, this course seeks to provide students with an overall context for understanding energy issues and risks, and how these might affect financing and investment decisions for both providers of energy and end-users of energy.
- Topics on: ESG, Finance
- Course
Water is the lifeblood of business. Virtually every business imaginable — everything from oil refining to semiconductor manufacturing to cloud computing — requires copious supplies of fresh water. However, there is a fixed amount of water on earth, and in any given place, the supply, demand, and quality of freshwater can change. As climate change makes many parts of the world hotter and drier, it is increasingly important for today’s business leaders to be able to understand water challenges and to implement solutions that will enable businesses to thrive in the future. In addition to understanding and navigating water quality and quantity challenges, business leaders must operate in a highly regulated environment.
Water is regulated at the multinational, national, regional, state and local levels, and it’s important to understand who the key external stakeholders are and how to engage with them in productive ways. THE BUSINESS AND GOVERNANCE OF WATER – THE WHARTON SCHOOL 2 Finally, future business leaders should learn about the growth opportunities in the global water sector. Water is an $800 billion global industry whose value chain includes operating water utilities, engineering firms, technology companies, and financial services firms.
- Topics on: Justice, Strategy
- Course
It was not long ago when business looked at environmental issues and their impact as a compliance exercise. Slowly, at first, leading businesses began to change their concept of environmental management to look beyond simply meeting governmental dictates. These organizations began to evolve and utilize “sustainability strategies” to create new ways to drive value creation by bringing sustainability to the core of their business strategy. This seismic shift was accompanied by a bottomline emphasis that, in some cases, turned sustainability efforts into profit centers. Today, there has been a shift, yet again, to confront what the reality that business must lead our world’s response to climate change and to help avoid disaster.
Businesses must be prepared for climate change’s impacts on their operations and must be fully positioned to drive value creation and innovation in these challenging times. Business cannot simply react to environmental mandates; they must lead and drive change! 2 Sustainable initiatives are increasingly not hidden within the silos of sustainability, EHS (environmental, health, and safety), or CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) departments, but have become much more seamlessly integrated into the operations of enterprise functional disciplines. Today, to effectively work in senior management, an executive needs to be knowledgeable not only about their specific business function, but also on how their business will be impacted by environmental supply chain disruptions, requirements around sustainability reporting, ESG (environmental, social, and governance) demands on a business, ability to market sustainable product attributes, managing energy, water, and food needs globally, and sustainable technology to drive new initiatives
- Topics on: Planning
- Course
- Topics on: ESG, Strategy
- Course
This course focuses on the social and environmental responsibilities of business that may extend beyond profit maximization. In 2019, the Business Roundtable composed of leading chief executive officers of U.S.-based companies released a statement that resurrected and reinforced interest in this view. (See reading link for Class 2 below under Course Outline.)
This view contrasts with a traditional approach famously expressed by the economist Milton Friedman that “the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.” Although Friedman acknowledged normative side constraints to the profit motive—namely, a need to conform to the “basic rules of the society, both those embodied in law and those embodied in ethical custom”—he did not see business itself as playing a central role in the creation and sustenance of these “basic rules.”
The profit-maximizing view of business purpose is the one most frequently modeled in business school classes. This course presents students with the opportunity to explore an alternative perspective: that business owes a “social responsibility” that includes, but goes beyond, profits.
- Topics on: Strategy
- Course
The law and public policy shape the relationships between business firms and the environment, including the climate. The first part of the course will provide a grounding in the foundational concepts of environmental law and policy. As we address different topics in environmental law and policy, we will examine a series of case studies in which law, policy and business intersect.
Examples include how informational regulation affects business strategy regarding climate change and how the law of municipal and hazardous waste management informs business practices about waste. We will also examine the emerging concept of private environmental governance. We will then focus on different approaches of incorporating environmental and climate strategy into business practices. The final part of the course will consist of student group presentations.
- Topics on: Policy
- Course
Over the last several decades, energy markets have become some of the most dynamic markets of the world economy. Traditional fossil fuel and electricity markets have seen a partial shift from heavy regulation to market-driven incentives, while rising environmental concerns have led to a wide array of new regulations and “environmental markets”. The growth of renewable energy is another source of rapid change, but brings with it a whole new set of technological and policy challenges. This changing energy landscape requires quick adaptation from energy companies, but also offers opportunities to turn regulations into new business.
The objective of this course is to provide the economist’s perspective on a broad range of topics that professionals in the energy industry will encounter. Topics include the effect of competition, market power and scarcity on energy prices, extraction and pricing of oil and gas, geopolitical uncertainty and risk in hydrocarbon investments, the environmental policies related to the energy sector and their effectiveness, and cap-and-trade markets. There is special emphasis on the economics and finance of renewable energy, including an introduction to energy storage.
- Topics on: Finance
- Course
Climate change might be the defining challenge of our times, with a wide range of effects on financial markets and the broader economy. At the same time, financial markets play an important role in financing the transition to a net-zero economy. This role, however, is shaped by the information that is available to market participants. In this course, we examine how climate risks—both physical and regulatory—affect firms, financial markets (including equity, bond, and carbon markets), and markets for energy and real estate.
We examine the role that firms’ disclosures and third-party information sources play. As climate change is high on the agenda of almost every company and government, this course will be valuable both for students with the ambition to pursue a career centered around sustainability and those who want to gain a better understanding of how climate issues affect more traditional roles in the financial sector, consulting, or non-profits.
- Topics on: Reporting and Measurement
- Course
This elective will explore current developments and trends in sustainable finance & investment, with a special focus on capital markets, institutional investment and emerging markets. Sustainable finance has rapidly become a major growth area in the capital markets, with annual sustainable debt issuance alone forecast to grow to US1.5 trillion in 2022 from a virtual standing start only six years ago. Investor and lender interest in environmental, social & governance (ESG) issues as well as concerns about climate change and other externalities has led to rapid policy and regulatory response with substantial changes proposed to the financial ecosystem.
Meanwhile a new sustainable finance assessment and data industry has sprung up to provide the market with information on the sustainability credentials of entities as well as innovative new financial instruments. Emerging themes such as transition finance, adaptation and resilience, net zero portfolio alignment and nature-based investing have also become increasingly mainstream in the finance community.
- Topics on: Finance