The Potential and Challenges of the Voluntary Carbon Market

The Potential and Challenges of the Voluntary Carbon Market

Author: Harvard Business School Business & Environment Initiative January 29, 2025 Duration: 54:59
Our second episode on the voluntary carbon market is a bonus episode of a panel discussion recorded at Harvard Climate Action Week in 2024. Harvard Kennedy School Professor Joe Aldy moderates this discussion with Nat Keohane from the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, Donna Lee from Calyx Global, UC San Diego Professor David Victor, and Carolyn Weinberg, formerly of Blackrock. Together, they bring perspectives from policy, business, and academia. The conversation explores the role of voluntary carbon markets in mobilizing finance for decarbonization, ensuring the integrity of carbon credits, and scaling high-quality projects. They also discuss emerging standards, innovative financial products, and how companies can leverage VCMs to achieve net-zero goals while addressing climate risks.

Hosted by the Harvard Business School Business & Environment Initiative, Climate Rising moves beyond abstract warnings to examine the concrete realities facing companies today. Each episode features candid conversations with senior executives, policymakers, and HBS faculty, dissecting the operational and strategic choices that define a business's relationship to a warming planet. You’ll hear how leaders are navigating pressures from investors, customers, and regulators while making pivotal decisions on everything from supply chain logistics and new technology investments to long-term risk assessment and competitive positioning. This isn't a theoretical discussion; it's a ground-level look at the practical dilemmas and innovations shaping industries. The podcast delves into the nuanced trade-offs managers face, turning climate change from a looming threat into a series of actionable, if complex, business problems. For anyone curious about how the private sector is actually responding-the successes, the stalled efforts, and the evolving playbooks-this series offers an essential and sobering dialogue. Tune in for a direct line to the thinking that is quietly redrawing the corporate map.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

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