Columbia Business School has vast amounts of research and faculty insight around climate change, renewable energy, and how businesses can succeed in a green future. Read articles and research from leading voices on climate change and its effects on global economies, specifically from the Indian context.

Articles

From Columbia Business School

Will There Be Enough Food?— Climate change, industrial agriculture, and a population boom all point to a global food shortage.

We Already Know How to Curb Climate Change — We get far more energy than we pay for, and that's a problem, says Geoffrey Heal.

Climate Change and the Next Great Recession — Rising temperatures may already be hitting our productivity.

The High Cost of Climate Uncertainty — Researchers put a more accurate price on carbon.

Up in Smoke — Carbon divestment moves from moral high ground to financial imperative.

---

From Indian Industry Leaders

Building a New Energy Security Architecture — A McKinsey & Company report on energy access, efficiency, sustainability and security.

Powering Up for the Future — Tata Power managing director Anil Sardana talks about the future of power and power for the future.

Have the Power to Change — It is critical that generating stations help drive India's economy, says Anil Sardana of Tata Power.

India Most Vulnerable to Climate Change: Jairam Ramesh — India will have to shed its old mantras that it did not contribute to global warming, says India's former environment minister.

India: Warming Up to the Climate Change Challenge — Transcript of Indian MP Jairam Ramesh's Public Lecture organised by Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, Chennai, from October 28, 2014.

The Changing Climate for India's Energy Policy — Transcript of Indian MP Jairam Ramesh's Public Address at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, November 10, 2014.

---

On the Economy and the Environment

How Companies Can Adapt to Climate Change — A McKinsey & Company report on how taking effective action can turn risk into competitive advantage.

Climate Change Costs India $10 Billion Every Year: Government — Climate change is projected to impact agricultural productivity with increasing severity from 2020 to the end of the century.

Climate Change: India Battles to Balance Economy and Environment — India is expected to be worst hit by the adverse effects of climate change. It is striving to overcome the problem by investing massively in renewable energy.

Reflections on Climate Change and Trade — Jagdish Bhagwati explores international trade and issues on climate change in the Brookings Trade Forum journal.

Videos

Academic Papers

From Columbia Business School Faculty

Uncertainty and Ambiguity in Environmental Economics: Conceptual Issues (2017) — Geoffrey Heal and Antony Miller (PDF)

Profound uncertainty is endemic to the field of environmental policy.

---

The Economics of the Climate (2017) — Geoffrey Heal (PDF)

The author reviews the economic characteristics of the climate problem, focusing on the choice of discount rates in the presence of a stock externality, risk and uncertainty/ambiguity, and the role of integrated assessment models (IAMs) in analyzing policy choices.

---

An Alternative Framework for Negotiating Climate Policies (2017) — Geoffrey Heal and Howard Kunreuther

The authors make two points about bottom-up approaches to climate policy. First, that it is more productive to work with a small group of countries to establish the basis of a global climate regime than tackling the issue with all countries, as in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Secondly, that negotiators should also work explicitly to encourage the development and deployment of clean technologies as a way to reduce future emissions, and suggest how this might be achieved.

---

Reflections—What Would It Take to Reduce U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions 80 Percent by 2050? (2017) — Geoffrey Heal

This paper investigates the cost and feasibility of reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent from 2005 levels by 2050.

---

Governance and Climate Change: A Success Story in Mobilizing Investor Support towards Corporate Responses to Climate Change (2016) — Mats Andersson, Patrick Bolton, Frédéric Samama

The new bottom‐up, more broadly inclusive, international cooperation process toward climate change mitigation initiated in the run up to the COP21 Paris agreement creates a much bigger role for an active role of financial markets and corporate governance. This paper discusses the role of corporate governance and financial markets in this global climate change mitigation process.

---

Hedging Climate Risk (2016) — Mats Andersson, Patrick Bolton, Frédéric Samama

The authors present a simple dynamic investment strategy that allows long-term passive investors to hedge climate risk without sacrificing financial returns.

---

The Near-term Impacts of Climate Change on Investors (2017) — The 2017 Social Enterprise Leadership Forum

Failing to understand the investment implications of climate science exposes professional investors to risks that must be understood in order to maintain fiduciary duty.

---

On India and Climate Change

Ecological Agriculture and Sustainable Adaptation to Climate Change: A Practical and Holistic Strategy for Indian Smallholders — Remy N. Bargout, the Earth Institute

For small farmers, facing a common rural reality of disempowerment and limited disposable household capital, the agro-ecological results of climate volatility will have catastrophic costs.

---

In India’s Sea of Darkness: An Unsustainable Island of Decentralized Energy Production — Kartikeya Singh, the Earth Institute

Whether India decides to power its villages through grid-fed coal power or through decentralized renewable energy systems, this decision has major implications for global climate change.

---

India's Decade of Development: Looking Back at the Last 10 Years, and Looking Forward to the Next 20 — Nirupam Bajpai & Jeffrey D. Sachs, the Earth Institute

All countries face the challenge of adapting to ongoing climate change. As one of the world's most crowded country, India faces this challenge more urgently than others.