ReCap_Rebecca

Actually the $9m wasn't from the SBLP. Harvard was awarded $9m automatically as a result of some recent legislation sending money to colleges and universities -- but has refused to accept the award. Others need it more than we do.

To be fair, I just published at 300+ page book on the subject building on a 28 session course that I developed and taught. Anything summarized in a paragraph tends to look like buzz words! My book lays out a systematic road map as to how business might help to drive real change -- beginning with actions that every firm can take, showing how that creates incentives for cooperative action -- and that that in turn creates a need for "enforcers" -- I then discuss whether and how finance is being rewired to drive collective action, and the ways in which the business community might now -- and has historically -- driven inclusive political change. My apologies if that's more buzz words -- the book gives me space to combine research and stories into something you might find more satisfactory...

I'm focused on systemic change -- how do we think about rebuilding capitalism so that it works for regular people, and doesn't destroy the planet. I suggest that purpose driven businesses -- firms that are authentically committed to doing the right thing -- can play an enormous role in driving positive change. I don't think firms acting along can change the world -- but I suggest that these kinds of firms can drive the innovation that changes industry, can be catalysts for cooperative efforts that bring everyone along to solve pubic problems and -- perhaps -- be partners in the political process in ways that can lead to a fundamental rebalancing of capitalism.

We're very close -- I'm not a scientist, but those of my colleagues who study this stuff tell me we need to cut green house gas emissions by 50% by 2030 (!) and to zero by 2050 if we are to avoid dangerous climate change. What are the odds that we will do that? Not great -- but that doesn't mean that we should stop trying. The consequences of unchecked climate change are catastrophic

Nobody knows. But it's precisely because there isn't a Plan B that we need to do everything we can right now. The good news is that this isn't a technical problem per se -- or even a resource problem. The technologies are moving really fast and as we've seen in the case of Covid, when we want to spend real resources to address a problem, we can. It's all about the cultural and political will. And climate change hasn't gone away -- we're going to have more fires and floods and droughts -- sooner or later we're going to move..