Climate Crossroads: Business, Innovation, and the Path to Net Zero

Climate change is real and it’s worsening. Goizueta Business School’s Wes Longhofer and Cameron Bard join to discuss the business imperative for carbon neutrality – and how human creativity, technological progress, and a strong commitment to a sustainable future can drive us toward net zero. 

There’s no escaping it – climate change is real and it’s worsening. 2023 was by far the warmest year on record, and 2024 is predicted to be even hotter, marking 10 years of consecutive increases. Last year, ocean warming broke records, Arctic sea ice dropped to a record low, and climate-related disasters caused damages exceeding $92 billion dollars.  

Wes Longhofer and Cameron Bard of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School join to discuss the role that business can and should play in helping our society transition to carbon-free sources of energy. We unpack the need for truly innovative large-scale ideas and investments, opportunities within developed and developing countries, global threats, and the challenge of pursuing clean energy initiatives while also respecting other environmental and social justice concerns.   

 

Wes Longhofer is an associate professor of organization and management and the executive academic director of the Business & Society Institute at Goizueta. His research on climate change and energy systems has been featured in the Washington Post and Nature. He also serves on Emory's Climate Research Initiative Task Force, as well as Emory's Sustainability Visioning Committee. 

 

Cameron Bard is a student in Goizueta’s Full-time MBA program. He serves as the President of the Goizueta Energy and CleanTech Association and is a Social Enterprise Fellow focusing on climate and sustainability. Post-graduation, he will work for Boston Consulting Group. Outside of class, he volunteers for the Georgia CleanTech Innovation Hub. 

 

Understanding Climate Change 
Climate change is defined as the long-term alteration of temperature and weather patterns on Earth. Highlighting the pivotal role of human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, in these environmental shifts, the conversation points to the direct consequences we're facing: increasingly frequent and severe climate shocks that disrupt the natural balance of our planet.  

The Energy Trilemma 
This trilemma refers to the complex challenge of balancing three critical aspects of energy policy: environmental sustainability, energy equity (affordability), and energy security. It underscores the difficulty of ensuring that future energy sources are not only carbon-free and sustainable to combat climate change but also affordable for communities worldwide and secure from the threats posed by geopolitical tensions and bad actors. In addition, it highlights the interplay between these dimensions in transitioning to a sustainable energy future, emphasizing the need for innovative solutions that address all three aspects simultaneously. 

Historical Context and Infrastructure 
Let’s look back at monumental projects like the massive hydroelectric dams constructed during the New Deal era, the creation of the interstate highway system in the 1950s, and the achievement of putting a man on the moon. These examples serve to illustrate the ambition and scale of past infrastructural endeavors, providing a benchmark for current efforts to transition to clean energy. However, there were several challenges these projects faced, such as the protests against the interstate highway system due to its impact on