Jaclyn Olsen, Associate Director of Harvard’s Office for Sustainability, and Erin Craig, Vice President of 3 Degrees, a climate solutions firm hired by Harvard, discuss the University’s goal to be fossil-fuel neutral by 2026 and fossil-fuel free by 2050. Jaclyn and Erin discuss Harvard’s carbon footprint, its efforts to reduce emissions and realize health benefits, and its emerging strategy on carbon offsets. And they share with us their advice for those interested in entering a climate and business career.  For transcripts and other resources, visit climaterising.org.Guests: Jaclyn Olsen, Associate Director of Harvard University’s Office for Sustainability and Erin Craig, Vice President of 3Degrees.

Myles Allen, Professor of Geosystem Science at the University of Oxford and Director of the Oxford Net Zero initiative, discusses the controversy over carbon offsets and how the Oxford Offsetting Principles can help organizations reduce risk and improve transparency in their use of carbon offsets to support their net zero goals. Myles also talks about what the University of Oxford is doing to address its own emissions, and shares the advice he gives his students interested in embarking on climate change careers.For transcripts and other resources, visit; climaterising.org.Guest: Myles Allen, Professor of Geosystem Science in the School of Geography and the Environment and Department of Physics at the University of Oxford, and Director of the Oxford Net Zero initiative.

Ingrid Irigoyen, Director of the Aspen Institute Shipping Decarbonization Initiative, discussesthe importance of decarbonizing global maritime shipping, the opportunities and challenges, andhow the Aspen Institute is working with Amazon, IKEA, Unilever, Michelin, and othercompanies to accelerate the effort. Ingrid also talks about how her background in mediationhelps her convene and collaborate with diverse stakeholders, and she reflects on why a career inclimate mitigation is a rewarding long-term strategy.For transcripts and other resources, visit climaterising.org.Guest: Ingrid Irigoyen, Director, Aspen Institute Shipping Decarbonization Initiative; AssociateDirector, Ocean and Climate, for the Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program

Kathleen McLaughlin, Chief Sustainability Office at Walmart, Inc. and President of the WalmartFoundation, discusses how Walmart plans to achieve its goal to avoid a gigaton–a billion metrictons–of greenhouse gas emissions in its global supply chain by 2030. She shares some of thechallenges and opportunities of operating on such a large scale and offers advice for thoseinterested in working in the business and climate change space.For transcripts and other resources, visit climaterising.org. Guest: Kathleen McLaughlin, Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer,Walmart, Inc.; President, Walmart Foundation

Donnel Baird, founder and CEO of BlocPower, a climate tech startup, describes why decarbonizing the buildings sector is both a challenge and an opportunity, why he chose this corner of the climate tech space, and how BlocPower is working with the city of Ithaca to electrify its entire building stock. Donnel shares lessons learned on his journey as an entrepreneur and a few recommendations for launching climate tech startups.Guest:Donnel Baird, founder and CEO, BlocPower.For transcripts and other resources, visit climaterising.org.

Ellen Jackowski, HP’s Chief Impact Officer, describes the company’s climate targets and how HP is shifting its business model to respond to climate change. She explains how HP is both engaging their employees in the effort and meeting customer demands for increased climate action. For transcripts and other resources, visit climaterising.org  

In early 2021, a severe winter storm knocked out Texas’ power grid for days, leaving millions shivering in the dark and killing hundreds of residents. Other states have also been caught off guard by extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change. This episode of the Deep Background podcast features , Alice Hill who led the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s effort to develop its first-ever climate resilience plan, being interviewed by Harvard Law School professor Noah Feldman. Hill explains what Texas’ electrical grid collapse means for the United States’ infrastructure at large. She also makes recommendations to start preparing infrastructure to be more resilient to extreme weather events.    For transcripts and other resources, visit climaterising.org   

Climate change poses two very different challenges to the U.S. Navy. First, the Navy has to buttress its billions of dollars of shoreline assets against rising sea levels. Second, it has to plan to be called on more often to address both military threats and humanitarian crises caused by climate change. In this episode of HBR Idea Cast, Climate Rising host Harvard Business School professor Mike Toffel and his colleague Forest Reinhardt discuss how the U.S. Navy is both addressing climate change and adapting to it. They explain what the private sector can learn from the Navy’s scientific and sober view of the world. Reinhardt and Toffel are the authors of the Harvard Business Review article, “Managing Limate Change: Lessons from the U.S. Navy”.    For transcripts and other resources, visit climaterising.orgResources:S. Department of Defense report: DOD Installation Exposure to Climate Change at Home and Abroad (April 2021)    

As the impacts of climate change mount, questions have arisen about whether the capitalist economic system we have in place is able to adequately address them. But what if, rather than upending the system, we recognized the power capitalism offers when it is properly regulated? In this episode of the Ask a Harvard Professor podcast, Harvard Business School Professor Rebecca Henderson talks through her own efforts to reconcile the climate crisis with her faith in the ingenuity of capitalism. “I believe that at the moment, our capitalism is also neither free nor fair,” she says. “The free market works when everyone can take part, and prices reflect real costs”—when polluters have to pay the cost of emitting fossil fuels. Henderson walks us through her vision for reimagining the system to address climate change by returning to its roots and building just and sustainable capitalism.For transcripts and other resources, visit climaterising.org

Many of the innovators we’ve spoken with this season are launching technologies or business models that produce less carbon than status quo approaches – leather made from mushrooms instead of cows, for example, and vehicles that run on electricity instead of fossil fuels. Other guests are finding new ways to finance those new technologies or business models. In this episode, we meet Steve Oldham, the CEO of Carbon Engineering, who is tackling climate change from a different angle – by developing a technology that captures carbon already in the air. The potential benefits of this approach are huge, but the challenges are at this point significant.