A Concise Business Guide to Climate Change

Understanding the ground rules of climate change for business.

Climate has changed the game for business around the world. With climate-related disasters causing billions in damage and public pressure rising, over 100 nations have set 2050 net-zero carbon-emissions targets within the framework of the 2015 Paris Agreement. Thousands of companies have registered with the Carbon Disclosure Project. In a recent survey of large, global firms, one-third reported that climate change was already affecting their operations.

Business leaders need help navigating this complex, fast-changing environment. In the flood of new policies and information, how can you tell what news matters, and its impact? Which arguments and reports are grounded in sound science and economics, and which are not?

This indispensable guidebook by Harvard Business School professor and policy expert Gunnar Trumbull answers this need. As managers around the world confront and educate themselves about how climate change is affecting their businesses, A Concise Business Guide to Climate Change provides a single, short, and accessible account of the information crucial to understanding and addressing these new challenges. What causes climate change? How do countries and companies measure their climate impact? What is the role of carbon markets? How are governments responding? What kind of corporate emissions targets make sense, and how can they be achieved? In crisp, reader-friendly, and data-rich chapters, this book presents the basic scientific, economic, policy, and accounting frameworks that managers need to answer these questions.

Whether you read it from start to finish for a complete overview or use it as a reference when confronted with specific challenges, let this book be your go-to business guide for dealing with climate change.

About the Author

Gunnar Trumbull is the Phillip Caldwell Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His research and publications have focused on regulatory policy, and he also has a background in the geosciences. He teaches the MBA course 'Global Climate Change', which he launched in spring 2022.

Before coming to HBS, he helped found the nonprofit organisation GeoHazards International, which assists countries and municipalities in responding to environmental risks.