Research Projects
Corporate Climate Change Initiatives and Employees
Vanessa Burbano and Stephen Meier
Professors Burbano and Meier are examining whether, how, and under what circumstances corporate climate change-related pledges and practices influence employee behavior and outcomes, as well as how employee behavior can be influenced to more positively affect corporate climate change outcomes. Through both experimental and field methodologies, they evaluate these relationships through a behavioral lens in order to help companies understand how their climate initiatives influence a key stakeholder group: their employees.
Understanding and Shaping Consumer Behavior to Fight Climate Change
Gita Johar, Eric Johnson, Michael Morris, and Vicki Morwitz
Professors Johar, Johnson, Morris, and Morwitz are collectively undertaking research to better understand consumer behavior in the face of green choices. Eric Johnson’s research focuses on how to enable consumers to identify greener products, as well as to identify cases where there is a tradeoff between product categories, promoting improved carbon mental accounting. Vicki Morwitz and Gita Johar are researching the incorporation of theoretical climate change mitigation interventions and customer metrics into a digital platform to enable consumers to make more sustainable decisions. Michael Morris focuses on mechanisms to motivate consumers to buy green products. Each focus area demonstrates various methods to move consumer behavior in a more sustainable direction.
Buying Green Starts in the Body: Exploring Communication Strategies to Increase Green Consumerism via Psychophysiology
Sheena Iyengar, Modupe Akinola, Michael White, and Sean Kaczmarek
Professors Iyengar and Akinola, PhD candidate White, and Research Staff Associate Kaczmarek examine how and to what extent physiological responses to climate change conversations are shaped by how information is delivered, as well as how subsequent behavior changes in relation to green consumerism. The researchers will employ a variety of contexts, samples, measures, and designs in an effort to better understand effective climate change communication techniques, ultimately demonstrating how psychophysiological reactions to organizational communication might impact consumer intentions and behaviors.
Using Climate Change Prediction Markets to Shift Climate Beliefs
Sandra Matz, Moran Cerf, and Malcolm MacIver (Northwestern)
Professors Matz, Cerf, and MacIver are examining the extent to which engagement with prediction markets can change attitudes and increase support for climate science. The researchers are evaluating which psychological mechanisms lead to changes in opinion towards climate science to: 1) better understand public opinion on climate solutions; 2) help policymakers understand their constituents; 3) offer predictions about climate outcomes that can be aggregated and used for scientific assessment; 4) introduce an additional financial instrument to help potentially mitigate climate risks; and 5) enable individuals to direct monetary resources into climate solutions.
Are Carbon Reduction Pledges Credible? The Case of US Oil and Gas Companies
Shiva Rajgopal, Hemang Desai (Southern Methodist), and Pauline Lam (NYU)
Professors Rajgopal, Desai (Southern Methodist), and Lam (NYU) are evaluating how the US oil and gas sector has responded to the increased pressure to decarbonize and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The researchers will compare companies’ pledges and related actions to better understand company behavior and the ways that the market responds to these commitments or their absence. This research will provide insights into mechanisms for achieving net zero, the feasibility of transition by various firms, the seriousness of different commitments, and the ways that capital markets react to these pledges.
Clean Growth and Climate Change
Conor Walsh and Costas Arkolakis (Yale)
Professors Walsh and Arkolakis are examining the implications of falling power prices in renewables for both growth and emissions across regions and at a global scale. Using data on global power grids, energy capital, energy resources, and productivity growth, the researchers are assessing the effects of renewable adoption on global production and how productivity changes as a result of access to cheaper energy. This research will ultimately contribute to improvements in climate modelling on energy investment and trade patterns out to 2050.
Additional Research and Insights
Research Forums
- Learn more about research forums.
Research Seminars
- May 5, 2023 — Columbia Business School’s Climate Faculty Research Seminar, Learning the Earth With Artificial Intelligence and Physics (LEAP)
Faculty, adjuncts, and PhD students heard from Professor Vanessa Burbano on the topic of “Learning the Earth with Artificial Intelligence and Physics (LEAP).”
Organized by Professors Geoffrey Heal and Gernot Wagner. - April 24, 2023 — Columbia Business School’s Climate Faculty Research Seminar, Rethinking Green Bonds
Faculty, adjuncts, and PhD students heard from Professor Shiva Rajgopal on the topic of “Rethinking Green Bonds.”
Organized by Professors Geoffrey Heal and Gernot Wagner. - March 20, 2023 — Columbia Business School’s Climate Faculty Research Seminar, Economics of Carbon Accounting
Faculty, adjuncts, and PhD students heard from Professor Geoffrey Heal on the topic of “Economics of Carbon Accounting.”
Organized by Professors Geoffrey Heal and Gernot Wagner. - February 27 — Columbia Business School’s Climate Faculty Research Seminar, Making the Invisible; the Opaque, Transparent
Faculty, adjuncts, and PhD students heard from Professor Eric Johnson on the topic of “Making the Invisible; the Opaque, Transparent.”
Organized by Professors Geoffrey Heal and Gernot Wagner. - February 20, 2023 — Columbia Business School’s Climate Faculty Research Seminar, Clean Growth
Faculty, adjuncts, and PhD students gathered at the first of a series of events on climate change. Conor Walsh, assistant professor of business, presented on the topic of clean growth.
Organized by Professors Geoffrey Heal and Gernot Wagner, and sponsored by the center.
Papers and Working Papers
- Rising Oceans: Economics and Science
Working Paper (2018)
Geoffrey Heal and Marco Tedesco - Governance and Climate Change: A Success Story in Mobilizing Investor Support for Corporate Responses to Climate Change
Journal of Applied Corporate Finance (2016)
Mats Andersson, Patrick Bolton, Frederic Samama - Applying Asset Pricing Theory to Calibrate the Price of Climate Risk
Working Paper (2015)
Kent Daniel, Robert Litterman, Gernot Wagner - Hedging Climate Risk
Working paper (2014)
Mats Andersson, Patrick Bolton, Frederic Samama - Ambiguity and Climate Policy
Working Paper (2011)
Geoffrey Heal, Antony Milner, Simon Dietz - The Drivers of Greenwashing
California Management Review (2011)
Magali Delmas, Vanessa Burbano - Towards an International Green Fund
Working paper (2010)
Patrick Bolton, Roger Guesnerie, Frederic Samama - Corporate Environmentalism: Doing Well by Being Green
Is Economic Growth Sustainable? (2010)
Geoffrey Heal - Are We Consuming Too Much?
Journal of Economic Perspectives (2004)
Geoffrey Heal, Kenneth Arrow, Partha Dasgupta, Lawrence Goulder, Gretchen Daily, Paul Ehrlich, Simon Levin, Karl-Goran Maler, Stephen Schneider, David Starrett, Brian Walker - Uncertainty and Climate Change
Working Paper (2002)
Geoffrey Heal - Climate Change and Uncertainty
Working Paper (2002)
Geoffrey Heal, Bengt Kristrom
For more information about research on climate change, see the Program for Financial Studies.
Books and Chapters
- Investing in the Era of Climate Change
Book (2022)
Bruce Usher - Renewable Energy: A Primer for the Twenty-First Century
Book (2019)
Bruce Usher - Endangered Economies
Book (2016)
Geoffrey Heal - The Spectacular Growth of Solar PV Leasing
Renewable Energy Finance: Powering the Future (2015)
Bruce Usher, Albert Gore III - Tipping Climate Negotiations
Chapter in Climate Change and Common Sense: Essays in Honour of Tom Schelling (2012)
Geoffrey Heal, Howard Kunreuther - Environmental Markets: Equity and Efficiency
Book (2000)
Graciela Chichilnisky, Geoffrey Heal - Nature and the Marketplace: Capturing the Value of the Ecosystem
Book (2000)
Geoffrey Heal - Valuing the Future: Economic Theory and Sustainability
Book (1998)
Geoffrey Heal
Press & Media
For articles and insights on climate change at Columbia Business School, see the media mentions section of our website.
Cases
View all cases on climate, sustainability and energy transformation in Columbia CaseWorks. Some featured cases can be found below:
- ELP Greenport: Scaling Community Solar
Columbia CaseWorks (2024)
Geoffrey Heal , Bruce Usher, Gernot Wagner - Stripe Climate: Creating a Market for Carbon Removal
Columbia CaseWorks (2024)
Gernot Wagner - Marketing Sustainability at General Motors
Columbia CaseWorks (2024)
Silvia Bellezza, Francesco Tronci - Electra: Decarbonizing Steelmaking Through Carbon-free Iron
Columbia CaseWorks (2024)
Gernot Wagner - Nextracker
Columbia CaseWorks (2024)
Bruce Usher, David Kirkpatrick - Osprey I: DSD's Securitization of Solar Assets
Columbia CaseWorks (2023)
Bruce Usher - Decarbonizing voestalpine High-Performance Metal
Columbia CaseWorks (2023)
Gernot Wagner - Clean Core Thorium Energy and the Role of Nuclear Power in the Low-carbon Transition
Columbia CaseWorks (2023)
Gernot Wagner - Rivian: Powering Up or Losing Charge in the EV Market?
Columbia CaseWorks (2023)
Dan Wang, Jerry Kim - Oil and Gas "Super Majors" and the Transition to Net Zero
Columbia CaseWorks (2022)
Shivaram Rajgopal, Bruce Usher - Columbia Divestment
Columbia CaseWorks (2022)
Bruce Usher - The Cost to Achieve Net-Zero
Columbia CaseWorks (2022)
Bruce Usher, Gernot Wagner - Green Bond Research Note
Columbia CaseWorks (2021)
Geoffrey Heal , Bruce Usher - Orsted's Offshore Wind Farms
Columbia CaseWorks (2021)
Geoffrey Heal , Bruce Usher - Architects of the Future? Tesla, Inc., Energy, Transportation, and the Climate
Columbia CaseWorks (2020)
Geoffrey Heal, Bruce Usher - From Pioneer to Pariah: SunEdison, Inc., and the Global Solar Photovoltaics Industry
Columbia CaseWorks (2017)
Geoffrey Heal, Bruce Usher - Pattern Energy and the YieldCo Sector
Columbia CaseWorks (2016)
Bruce Usher - Stanford Dumps Coal
Columbia CaseWorks (2015)
Andrew Ang, Bruce Usher - E+Co: A View from the Boardroom
Columbia CaseWorks (2013)
Bruce Usher - Keystone Solar
Columbia CaseWorks (2013)
Bruce Usher - The Mossi Ghisolfi Group Monetizing Beta Renewables
Columbia CaseWorks (2013)
Geoffrey Heal - The Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm
Columbia CaseWorks (2012)
Bruce Usher - Citigroup and the Equator Principles
Columbia CaseWorks (2008)
Geoffrey Heal
Podcasts
- Climate Science, Explained
WNYC (2019)
Peter deMenocal - Taxing Carbon: Boon for Economy & Climate?
Columbia Energy Exchange, Center on Global Energy Policy at SIPA (2018)
Glenn Hubbard
Faculty Leadership
Learn more about faculty leadership
- Vanessa Burbano
Assistant Professor - Geoffrey Heal
Donald C. Waite III Professor of Social Enterprise - Shivaram Rajgopal
Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing; Accounting Division Chair - Bruce Usher
Co-director of the Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change; Elizabeth B. Strickler '86 and Mark T. Gallogly '86 Faculty Director; Professor of Professional Practice - Gernot Wagner
Senior Lecturer in Discipline of Economics in the Faculty of Business