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Climate Rising is about the impact of climate change on business. It brings business and policy leaders and Harvard Business School faculty together to share insights about what businesses are doing, can do, and should do to confront climate change. It explores the many challenges and opportunities that climate change raises for managers, such as decisions about where they choose to locate, the technologies they develop and use, their strategies with respect to products, marketing, customer engagement, and policy—in other words, the full spectrum of business concerns.
99 Episodes
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Dr. Alyssa Whitcraft is a professor at University of Maryland and a leading expert in agricultural
remote sensing and climate adaptation. Dr. Whitcraft discusses her journey from co-founding NASA Harvest, a global program addressing food security with satellite data, to leading NASA Acres, which focuses on U.S. agriculture. She explains how AI and satellite technology are changing the agricultural sector, offering solutions ranging from crop yield prediction to regenerative farming practices. Alyssa also shares insights into Harvest SARA, a nonprofit she
founded to foster collaboration between public and private sectors in advancing sustainable agriculture. Finally, she provides career advice for aspiring scientists and professionals interested in the intersection of AI, climate, and agriculture.
Carsten Brinkschulte is the CEO of Dryad, a company that leverages AI to detect wildfires early and prevent catastrophic damage. Carsten shares his journey from a telecom entrepreneur to climate tech innovator, explaining how Dryad’s solar-powered sensors and mesh networks detect wildfires at their inception and transmit real-time alerts to their customers. He also discusses the technical challenges of embedding machine learning into low-cost sensors, the importance of collaborating with public and private stakeholders, and the evolving landscape of wildfire detection technology. Carsten provides advice for aspiring climate tech entrepreneurs, emphasizing the need to align impact with profitability.
1In this episode, host Mike Toffel speaks with Pasi Miettinen, CEO of Sagewell, a company that uses AI to help utilities and their customers manage energy demand efficiently. Pasi explains how Sagewell’s technology helps reduce peak electricity usage, which in turn lowers energy costs and lessens climate impact. He also discusses how smart data analytics can identify energy-saving opportunities and the importance of AI in optimizing energy usage patterns. Pasi provides insights on the challenges and successes in the utility sector and shares career advice for those looking to work in AI and clean energy.
In this episode, host Mike Toffel sits down with Paul Dickinson and Tom Rivett-Carnac, co-hosts of the climate podcast Outrage & Optimism, to preview COP29, the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. With their extensive experience in climate negotiations and industry collaboration, Paul and Tom share insights on how COP29 fits into the broader climate agenda, what business leaders should expect, and how they can best engage. The conversation delves into the evolving role of COP, from setting targets to ensuring implementation, and the critical importance of corporate involvement in driving ambitious
climate action.
David Cash, the Regional Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for
New England, shares his journey from environmental science to state and federal leadership roles. He highlights how the clean energy transition in the United States is being driven by public policy, community engagement, and new funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. He explains the U.S. EPA’s role in balancing climate action with economic development, while promoting environmental justice. David also offers insights
on career opportunities at the intersection of business, climate, and government.
Rich Lesser, Global Chair of Boston Consulting Group (BCG), shares how BCG is
helping clients walk the walk with net-zero commitments, transition to sustainable practices, and how it is partnering with global organizations to amplify their impact. He also delves into the challenges businesses face in adapting to climate risks and the role of AI in optimizing everything from supply chains to climate resilience. Rich suggests ways businesses can step up to create meaningful changes and concludes with his advice for those looking to enter the climate space.
This is the fourth episode in our series on business and climate change in the media and entertainment industry, where we’re diving into the business of news and storytelling around climate change. Our prior episodes featured CNN, Netflix, and Sustainable Entertainment
Alliance. In this episode, we are hosting Joel Makower, the co-founder and Chair of Trellis, formerly known as GreenBiz. Joel has been a pioneer in the climate media space since he founded The Green Business Letter in 1991. Today, Trellis stands as a leading independent media platform focused on the intersection of business, technology, and sustainability. In this
conversation, Joel will share insights into his journey, the business strategy of a niche climate-focused digital media and event platform, and the critical role of a media platform in advancing climate action. With a career spanning over three decades at the intersection of media, business and climate, Joel also offers valuable advice for those who are looking to make impact in climate.
This episode is the third in our series on how the media and entertainment industries are integrating climate change into their storytelling and TV show and film production processes. This episode features Sam Read, Executive Director of the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance, a consortium of major studios and streamers including Disney, Netflix, and Warner Brothers. Sam describes how these players are working together to share best practices and insights, and the progress he’s seeing in the industry. He also offers advice for those looking to work in climate-related alliances and collaborations.
In this episode of Climate Rising, we explore how Netflix, a global entertainment powerhouse, is leveraging its platform to tell compelling stories about climate change. Stewart, Netflix's first
Sustainability Officer, joins host Mike Toffel to discuss the company’s strategic approach to sustainability, and the importance of embedding climate themes in popular content. Stewart shares insights into the challenges and opportunities of incorporating climate considerations into both operations and storytelling, revealing how Netflix is contributing to the global climate conversation.
This episode is the first of our latest series on climate in media and entertainment, where we explore and understand the role of storytelling in shaping climate actions. Today we have Bill Weir, Chief Climate Correspondent at CNN who shares his expertise on how CNN integrates climate narratives into their news coverage, the power of storytelling, and the strategies they employ to highlight both the urgency of the climate crisis and the innovative solutions emerging worldwide.
Host and Guest
Climate Rising Host: Professor Mike Toffel, Faculty Chair, Business & Environment Initiative (LinkedIn)
Guest: Bill Weir, Chief Climate Correspondent, CNN (LinkedIn)
Erik Snyder, Founder and CEO of Drawdown Fund discusses financing climate tech startups
through growth equity. He describes how he started the Drawdown Fund with Paul Hawken, editor of the New York Times best-selling book on climate solutions called Drawdown, and the strategic choices that set their fund operations apart from others. He also describes some of the fund’s portfolio companies: from sustainable packaging, community solar to decarbonizing mass-transit with AI.
Fred Krupp, president of the non-profit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), describes EDF’s work to address climate change through scientific, economic, and legal analyses, working with
governments and companies, and public and legal advocacy for stronger climate and other environmental practices and policies. Fred joined us to talk about MethaneSAT, EDF’s new satellite that was recently launched to monitor emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from oil and gas operations. Fred describes why EDF entered the satellite business, how its satellite differs from others already in orbit, the many partners EDF enlisted to design and
deploy the satellite, how AI is deployed in the process, and what new opportunities this satellite will provide for EDF and the rest of us.
Today’s episode focuses on some innovative alternative low-carbon natural materials being used in fashion. Bolt Threads CEO Dan Widmaier describes Mylo, a substitute for leather that’s derived from mushrooms, via the TED Climate podcast that we’re bringing here a bonus episode of Climate Rising. It’s a perfect extension of our two most recent Climate Rising episodes that focus on other low-carbon advanced materials: GALY’s lab-grown cotton and C16 Bioscience’s lab-generated treeless palm oil.
Today’s episode is the fifth in our series on decarbonizing the roots of value chains, where we’re looking deep into supply chains that serve many industries. Previously we talked about green concrete, green steel, regenerative agriculture, and lab-grown cotton. Today we’re discussing palm oil – a widely used product that’s also associated with climate change due to some palm oil plantations arising from clearing and burning tropical forests, releasing carbon and destroying habitat and biodiversity. We talk with Shara Ticku, Co-founder and CEO of C16 Biosciences (and HBS alumna), which uses fermentation to produce a palm oil substitute. She describes how she and her partners built their start-up, including how they decided which products to develop, and which customers to pursue. She also shares advice for those interested in working at climate tech startup companies like hers.
Climate Rising Host: Professor Mike Toffel, Faculty Chair, Business & Environment Initiative (LinkedIn)
Guest: Shara Ticku, Co-founder and CEO, C16 Biosciences, and HBS alumna (LinkedIn)
Today’s episode is the fourth in our series on decarbonizing the roots of value chains, where we’re looking deep into supply chains that serve many industries. Previously we talked about the technical products of green concrete and green steel, and agriculture through the lens of regenerative agriculture. Today we continue our focus on decarbonizing agricultural products by focusing on lab-grown cotton. Luciano Bueno, founder and CEO of GALY, joins me today to talk about how his biomaterials start-up uses sugar to feed cells and grow cotton in the lab. Luciano will share how he rebounded from a venture that failed, and then started GALY and grew it into the Series B company it is today. I’ll also ask him to share his views of the future of lab-grown fabrics and his reflections on entrepreneurship in climate tech more broadly.
Host and Guest
Climate Rising Host: Professor Mike Toffel, Faculty Chair, Business & Environment Initiative (LinkedIn)
Guest: Luciano Bueno, Founder and CEO at GALY (LinkedIn)
Today’s episode is the third in our series on decarbonizing the roots of value chains, where we’re looking deep into supply chains that serve many industries. Previously we talked about green concrete and steel, and today we’re turning to agriculture. Chris Marquis, a professor at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School sheds light on regenerative agriculture, a set of practices that restore farming ecosystems while having the potential to decarbonize. We’ll also talk about his new book The Profiteers, where he discusses the need to hold companies accountable for the environmental and social externalities associated with their operations and supply chains, and he describes how some companies have engaged in what he calls “corporate gaslighting” to shift the focus of responsibility onto others.
This episode is a part of our series on decarbonizing the roots of value chains, where we’re looking deep into supply chains that serve many industries. Our prior episode explored green concrete, and today’s focuses on steel. Steel production primarily relies on coal and coke, and accounts for nearly 7% of global CO2 emissions. But new technologies are on the horizon. Maria Persson Gulda, Chief Technology Officer at H2 Green Steel, joins us to discuss an innovative solution: green steel made from green hydrogen. By harnessing renewable power, H2 Green Steel is pioneering a path to drastically reduce steel's carbon footprint. Maria will also share insights into the world’s largest green steel plant in Sweden H2 is building, the evolving technological landscape, and the pivotal role of initial adopters.
Climate Rising Host: Professor Mike Toffel, Faculty Chair, Business & Environment Initiative (LinkedIn)
Guest: Maria Persson Gulda, the Chief Technology Officer at H2 Green Steel (LinkedIn)
The first of a series on decarbonizing the roots of value chains, where we’re looking deep into supply chains that serve many industries, this episode focuses on concrete. Concrete is one of the world’s most popular materials, and it accounts for nearly 8% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, most of which comes from cement– the glue that binds conventional forms of concrete. We focus on one type of green concrete produced by Urban Mining Industries that replaces half of the cement with recycled glass that makes its product much less carbon intensive. We present this story through an episode of the HBR Cold Call podcast, where host Brian Kenny interviews HBS professors Shirley Lu and Bob Kaplan. They discuss how Harvard is pilot testing the use of green concrete in its current construction projects as part of the university’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. They’ll also discuss various methods to measure carbon emissions, including the e-liability approach Bob Kaplan lays out in a recent Harvard Business Review article.
In this episode in our adaptation series, Peter Hall, Managing Director at Resonance Impact Advisory, draws upon his experience in global engineering and professional services firms to share how consulting and advisory companies can help their clients assess their risks and take actions to become more resilient to climate change. He walks through several adaptation frameworks and roadmaps recently developed by governments, civil society, and private companies to help provide clarity and guidance on the steps necessary for more resilient companies and societies.
For notes and resources visit; climaterising.org
This episode in our adaptation series focuses climate change’s implications on the insurance industry. Claudine Blamey, Group Director of Sustainability at Aviva, describes how climate change evokes both transition risks and physical risks for insurance companies, and affects how insurance companies are assessing and pricing risk in their underwriting process, and influences their investment strategy. Claudine also describes innovative insurance products such as parametric and catastrophe insurance that are emerging to address natural disasters that are exacerbated by climate change.
For resources and other episodes visit climaterising.org
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