Climate Rising
Climate Rising is about the impact of climate change on business. It brings business and policy leaders and Harvard Business School faculty together to share insights about what businesses are doing, can do, and should do to confront climate change. It explores the many challenges and opportunities that climate change raises for managers, such as decisions about where they choose to locate, the technologies they develop and use, their strategies with respect to products, marketing, customer engagement, and policy—in other words, the full spectrum of business concerns.
Episodes
June 18, 2025 • 45 mins
Patrik Frisk, CEO of ReJu, joins Climate Rising to discuss his company’s mission to recycle textile waste and build circular supply chains for apparel made of polyester fabric. Patrik brings his prior experience leading Under Armour and other global brands across the textile and footwear industry for over 35 years.
Patrik describes how ReJu turns discarded apparel made of polyester blends into new polyester, and how it tackles th...
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June 4, 2025 • 40 mins
James Reinhart, CEO of ThredUp, one of the largest online resale platforms for secondhand clothing. James co-founded the company while he was a Masters’ student at Harvard and has spent the last 15 years scaling a national logistics and digital infrastructure platform for resale.
In this episode James describes why the company decided to handle physical goods rather than act as a pure marketplace, how ThredUp helps brands run the...
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May 21, 2025 • 48 mins
In the latest episode of Climate Rising from Harvard Business School, Karen Pflug, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ingka Group (IKEA), shares how IKEA is embedding circularity throughout its business model.
She discusses how IKEA is redesigning iconic products like the Billy bookcase to make them easier to disassemble and repair, how secondhand retail pilot programs at IKEA stores are reaching new customers, and how investments l...
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Lauren Rodriguez, who leads partnerships at Circular Services, a Closed Loop Partners company, joins host Mike Toffel to discuss building the infrastructure and investment models needed to scale the circular economy.
Lauren explains how Closed Loop Partners supports the transition from a linear to a circular economy through capital management, innovation initiatives, and operating companies like Circular Services. She shares how...
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April 23, 2025 • 46 mins
Fabian Barthel, Co-Founder of Vytal, a circular economy packaging-as-a-service startup, joins host Mike Toffel to explore the innovation, behavioral science, and regulations shaping the market for reusable containers for take-out food and beverages.
Fabian shares how Vytal is tackling packaging waste by building a reusable container system for restaurants, canteens, and major events. He explains why deposit-based systems often fa...
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April 9, 2025 • 42 mins
In this bonus episode of Climate Rising, we share an episode from Harvard Business School’s Cold Call podcast, featuring HBS professor Mike Toffel and Duncan van Bergen, Co-Founder of Calyx Global. The discussion focuses on Mike’s recent HBS case study, Calyx Global: Rating Carbon Credits, which explores how the company is helping improve transparency and credibility in the voluntary carbon market. Mike and Duncan join host Brian K...
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March 26, 2025 • 43 mins
Luke Leslie, Co-Founder and CEO of Key Carbon, joins Climate Rising as part of our series on voluntary carbon markets. Luke has spent over 20 years in carbon markets and finance, working in investment banking, private equity, and structured finance.
Luke explains how Key Carbon is financing high-integrity carbon projects and how new overlaps between the voluntary and compliance carbon markets are at the center of their investment...
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March 12, 2025 • 58 mins
Alexia Kelly, Managing Director of the Carbon Policy and Markets Initiative (CPMI) at theHigh Tide Foundation, joins host Mike Toffel for the fifth episode in our series on voluntarycarbon markets. Alexia has worked for nearly two decades atthe intersection of carbonmarkets, policy, and finance, with roles spanning government, private industry, andnonprofits.
In this episode, Alexia discusses how voluntary carbon markets are evolv...
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February 26, 2025 • 42 mins
Amy Merrill, CEO of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) joins host Mike Toffel in this fourth episode of the Climate Rising series on voluntary carbon markets. Amy has extensive experience in carbon markets, including leading negotiations on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and advising on global carbon finance.
Amy explains how ICVCM uses a multi-stakeholder approach to enhance the integrity of carbon c...
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This episode, the third in our series on Voluntary Carbon Markets, features Mark Kenber, Executive Director of the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI). Mark has worked in carbon markets and climate finance for nearly three decades, with experience at organizations like WWF, The Climate Group, and Fundación Natura in Ecuador.
Mark describes VCMI’s mission to provide guidance for companies and other non-state actor...
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January 29, 2025 • 56 mins
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, bu...
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January 15, 2025 • 47 mins
Dr. Jennifer Jenkins, Chief Science Officer at Rubicon Carbon, joins our host Mike to talk about the critical role of voluntary carbon markets in achieving net-zero goals. Dr. Jenkins shares insights on how Rubicon Carbon is advancing the integrity and scalability of carbon credit through tools like the Rubicon Carbon Integrity Framework (RCIF). The conversation explores the lifecycle of a carbon credit, the challenges of managing ...
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January 1, 2025 • 47 mins
Logan Ward, Deputy Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, joins host Mike Toffel to discuss how AI is transforming the discovery process for new materials in grid-scale batteries. Logan explains Argonne’s research on improving energy storage solutions, why AI plays a critical role, and the partnerships between national labs and the industry. He also shares his outlook on the future of AI in climate science and offers career advi...
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December 18, 2024 • 53 mins
Dr. Alyssa Whitcraft is a professor at University of Maryland and a leading expert in agricultural
remote sensing and climate adaptation. Dr. Whitcraft discusses her journey from co-founding NASA Harvest, a global program addressing food security with satellite data, to leading NASA Acres, which focuses on U.S. agriculture. She explains how AI and satellite technology are changing the agricultural sector, offering solutions ranging...
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December 4, 2024 • 45 mins
Carsten Brinkschulte is the CEO of Dryad, a company that leverages AI to detect wildfires early and prevent catastrophic damage. Carsten shares his journey from a telecom entrepreneur to climate tech innovator, explaining how Dryad’s solar-powered sensors and mesh networks detect wildfires at their inception and transmit real-time alerts to their customers. He also discusses the technical challenges of embedding machine learning in...
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November 20, 2024 • 53 mins
In this episode, host Mike Toffel speaks with Pasi Miettinen, CEO of Sagewell, a company that uses AI to help utilities and their customers manage energy demand efficiently. Pasi explains how Sagewell’s technology helps reduce peak electricity usage, which in turn lowers energy costs and lessens climate impact. He also discusses how smart data analytics can identify energy-saving opportunities and the importance of AI in optimizing...
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November 6, 2024 • 47 mins
In this episode, host Mike Toffel sits down with Paul Dickinson and Tom Rivett-Carnac, co-hosts of the climate podcast Outrage & Optimism, to preview COP29, the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. With their extensive experience in climate negotiations and industry collaboration, Paul and Tom share insights on how COP29 fits into the broader climate agenda, what business leaders should expect, and how they ca...
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David Cash, the Regional Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for
New England, shares his journey from environmental science to state and federal leadership roles. He highlights how the clean energy transition in the United States is being driven by public policy, community engagement, and new funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. He explains the U.S. EPA’s role i...
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October 23, 2024 • 44 mins
Rich Lesser, Global Chair of Boston Consulting Group (BCG), shares how BCG is
helping clients walk the walk with net-zero commitments, transition to sustainable practices, and how it is partnering with global organizations to amplify their impact. He also delves into the challenges businesses face in adapting to climate risks and the role of AI in optimizing everything from supply chains to climate resilience. Rich suggests ways bu...
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October 9, 2024 • 48 mins
This is the fourth episode in our series on business and climate change in the media and entertainment industry, where we’re diving into the business of news and storytelling around climate change. Our prior episodes featured CNN, Netflix, and Sustainable Entertainment
Alliance. In this episode, we are hosting Joel Makower, the co-founder and Chair of Trellis, formerly known as GreenBiz. Joel has been a pioneer in the climate medi...
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