Todd Cort - Yale University’s Initiative on Sustainable Finance

Purchase the Climate Finance Course at www.climatefinancecourse.com Dr. Todd Cort holds Faculty Co-Director positions at the Yale Center for Business and the Environment and the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance, which are located in the Yale School of Management and Yale School of Environment. Todd Cort is the co-editor of two books: Values at Work: Sustainable Investing and ESG Reporting (2020) with Dan Esty, and Sustainable Innovation and Impact (2018) with Cary Krosinsky.   Prior to his research and teaching career, he worked as an Environmental Engineering and Sustainability consultant with TUV Rheinland and Det Norske Veritas in California and was a Post-Doctoral Researcher and Assistant Research Professor at the Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Cort received his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering and an MS in Organic and Biochemistry from the University of Colorado Boulder and a BS in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from the University of California San Diego. Check out the Climate Finance Podcast Website for more information.

 

Topics discussed:

• Todd’s two main transitions across his climate journey:

  • Intellectual Transition: From Biochemistry and Civil Engineering to ESG and Sustainable Finance.

  • Professional Transitions between Consulting and Academia.

• Process of establishing Yale University's Initiative on Sustainable Finance with Daniel Esty.

• Exploring how to Incentivize the direction of multi-capital toward inclusive capitalism.

• Working on two books with Cary Krosinsky: Sustainable Innovation and Impact (2018) and Sustainable Investing: Revolutions in Theory and Practice (2016).

• Five Sustainable Investment Strategies:

  • Sustainable Alpha Investors

  • Smart Beta Investors

  • Activist Investors

  • Impact Investors

  • Screening Investors

• Producing “Values at Work: Sustainable Investing and ESG Reporting” with Daniel Esty in 2020.

• Shortcomings of ESG Performance Data especially ESG Risks dependent on Management Quality Control.

• Illustrative Case Studies on ESG Risks regarding Management Quality Control:

  • BP and the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill (2010).

  • Volkswagen Scandal: Dieselgate (2015).

  • Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.