Investing in the Era of Climate Change

A climate catastrophe can be avoided, but only with a rapid and sustained investment in companies and projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To the surprise of many, this has already begun. Investors are abandoning fossil-fuel companies and other polluting industries and financing businesses offering climate solutions. Rising risks, evolving social norms, government policies, and technological innovation are all accelerating this movement of capital.

Bruce Usher offers an indispensable guide to the risks and opportunities for investors as the world faces climate change. He explores the role that investment plays in reducing emissions to net zero by 2050, detailing how to finance the winners and avoid the losers in a transforming global economy. Usher argues that careful examination of climate solutions will offer investors a new and necessary lens on the future for their own financial benefit and for the greater good. Companies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions will create great wealth, and, more importantly, they will provide a lifeline for humanity.

Grounded in academic and industry research, Usher's insights bring clarity to a complex and controversial topic while illuminating the people behind the numbers. This book sets out a practical and actionable plan for investors that will alter the course of climate change.

ISBN-13: 9780231200882

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Publication Date: 10-11-2022

Pages: 304

Product Dimensions: 6.40(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.10(d)

Bruce Usher is professor of professional practice and the Elizabeth B. Strickler ’86 and Mark T. Gallogly ’86 Faculty Director of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School, where he teaches on the intersection of financial, social, and environmental issues. He was previously an entrepreneur and worked in financial services in New York and Tokyo. Usher is the author of Renewable Energy: A Primer for the Twenty-First Century (Columbia, 2019).

Table of Contents

Preface
Part I. Momentum
1. Prosperity, with a Catch
2. Investing in the Era of Climate Change
3. Momentum
Part II. Climate Change Solutions
4. Renewable Energy
5. Electric Vehicles
6. Energy Storage
7. Green Hydrogen
8. Carbon Removal
9. Better Together
Part III. Investing Strategies
10. Risk Mitigation
11. Divestment
12. ESG Investing
13. Thematic Impact Investing
14. Impact First Investing
Part IV. Investing in Real Assets
15. Renewable Energy Projects
16. Real Estate
17. Forestry and Agriculture
Part V. Investing in Financial Assets
18. Venture Capital
19. Private Equity
20. Public Equities
21. Equity Funds
22. Fixed Income
Part VI. The Investor’s Dilemma
23. The Investor’s Dilemma
24. Best Practices
25. Why Investment Matters
26. The Future
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index Show More