Harnessing Capital for Climate Solutions

(VIRTUAL) November - December 2021

Instructor: Arthur Lerner-Lam, Senior Advisor to the Co-Founding Deans, Columbia Climate School

Description: Increasing awareness of the impacts of climate change on society has made it even more important that the reallocation of capital toward solutions and away from risks must be a part of investment decisions. The linkages between climate science and responsible investing, as well as the evolving landscape of international agreements, regulation and litigation, are becoming factors in the decision cultures within corporations, the financial services sector, and public agencies and governments at all scales.

This workshop series will explore how basic research in climate and the environment can be used to provide a framework for capital allocation decisions. Participants will explore the scope of environmental risks and their predictability, the disparities in impacts across populations, economic sectors and geographic regions, and the relationships between long-term climate trends and sudden weather extremes. We will discuss the importance and difficulties of measuring carbon “footprints,” and how individual corporate and aggregate sector emissions performance relates to the ability of nations to meet their emissions reduction targets.  Lastly, we will explore how the goals of economic development and growth intersect with notions of global sustainability.

Learners will walk away with core competencies including foundations of sustainability science, climate-related risk identification and assessment, systems analysis, and the environmental context for capital reallocation.

Learning objectives/themes:

• Climate science baselines: How robust are the observations of climate change, and to what extent can sudden weather and climate shocks be attributed to anthropogenic emissions? What are the knowns and unknowns and the predictive skill of climate models, and how are useful climate scenarios constructed? What are the systems-level impacts on human societies, and to what extent are these impacts disproportionately distributed by geography, race or ethnicity and socio-economic class? How do these impacts translate into physical risks to individual enterprises?
• Climate response baselines: What are the global trends in the administrative and adjudicative policies? How might these affect the production of goods and services, their pricing and their distribution? Are these enough to reduce emissions and lead the transition to a net-zero or net-negative economy by mid-century? What are transition risks and how do they affect decision cultures within different entities?
• Climate Innovation: What are the emergent and disruptive technologies that might contribute to the reduction of emissions? How are these related to modal changes in the production and distribution of goods and services? How would notions of sustainability, circular economies, and industrial ecology contribute to solutions?
• ESG in practice: How should ESG performance be measured, and how should it be aggregated across portfolios and sectors? Are investment decisions based on ESG metrics sufficient to meet national emissions reduction goals? How will inherent tensions between economic growth and development, increased consumerism, demand for energy and other components of a modern standard-of-living be rectified through the practical application of policies, technologies, and consumer-driven initiatives?

Who this workshop is intended for: Participants should have a basic understanding of statistics, which will be used throughout the course. A strong quantitative background is not required.

Learning modalities: This workshop will be offered in a virtual format via Zoom. It will feature of mix of lectures, discussion, and audio/visual materials. Guest speakers will share their practical knowledge and experience as well.

Please note that all courses are taught in English. Proficiency in written and spoken English is required.

Schedule: (VIRTUAL) November - December 2021, 5:30 - 7:30pm ET unless otherwise indicated*

1. Session 1: Wednesday, November 3^rd

2. Session 2: Wednesday, November 10^th

3. Session 3: Wednesday, November 17^th

4. Session 4: Tuesday, November 23^rd, 5:30 – 8:30 pm ET*

5. Session 5: Wednesday, December 1^st

6. Session 6: Wednesday, December 8^th

7. Session 7: Wednesday, December 15^th