A Concise Business Guide to Climate Change - by Gunnar Trumbull (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Understanding the ground rules of climate change for business.

Climate has changed the game for businesses around the world. With climate-related disasters costing billions in damages and public pressure rising, over a hundred nations joined the 2015 Paris Agreement, setting 2050 as the target for net-zero carbon emissions. 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. Amid a flood of new policies and information, how can you tell what news matters and what impact it will have? 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 the reality of climate change and educate themselves about how it 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 challenges. What causes climate change? How do countries and companies measure their own impact on global climate? 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, Trumbull presents the basic scientific, economic, policy, and accounting frameworks that managers need in order to answer these questions.

Effective as an overview or as a reference on specific challenges, this book is your go-to business guide for dealing with climate change.

Review Quotes

Advance Praise for A Concise Business Guide to Climate Change:

"As someone who's spent years at the intersection of sustainability and global business, I know how hard it can be to move from ambition to action. A Concise Business Guide to Climate Change makes that journey clearer. Trumbull's voice is grounded, accessible, and deeply informed--exactly the kind of guide today's leaders need." -- Hakan Bulgurlu, CEO, Beko

"As a climate and business primer, this book provides good coverage of the core issues executives need a handle on: the pressures and the stakeholders, the basic science (with an unusually good explanation as to why leaders should understand it), the cleantech space, and the policy landscape. Well done." -- Andrew Winston, coauthor, Green to Gold and Net Positive

"Trumbull aims to help managers understand current concerns about climate change and why businesses need to pay attention, to provide an overview of global policy efforts to date, and to identify a range of challenges and opportunities these policies present for businesses. He not only succeeds, he does so with thoughtfulness and balance that inspire trust. I highly recommend this guide to executives, policy makers, and educators who want to come up to speed on this topic." -- Cynthia A. Montgomery, Timken Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School; author, The Strategist

"In this vital guide for leaders navigating the net-zero transition, Professor Trumbull offers insights that resonate deeply with Envision's mission. As AI, intelligent manufacturing, and decarbonization converge, climate technology is set to drive a new green industrial revolution--one that reshapes the global economy and unlocks sustainable prosperity. This marks a defining leap for human civilization." -- Lei Zhang, founder and CEO, Envision Group

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 organization GeoHazards International, which assists countries and municipalities in responding to environmental risks.