John Hoffmire: Kasturi, you have covered multiple fields in your work life so far. Tell me about your professional journey, if you will.
Kasturi: That’s right, John. In my professional journey spanning more than two decades I have worked in multiple capacities – conducting research, advisory, advocacy, teaching, academic administration, and community service. My journey has
John Hoffmire: When you were a fellow of the Chevening Research Science and Innovation Leadership Programme (CRISP) at Oxford a few years ago, we spent a lot of time talking about entrepreneurship. You’ve taken those concepts in an important direction as an intrapreneur – behaving like an entrepreneur while working within a large organization. Please
This op-ed was originally published in Project Syndicate.
Following the steep economic downturns brought about by COVID-19, policymakers should be asking or rethinking fundamental questions. None is more fundamental than whether rapid economic growth is the best way to drive development and help struggling communities escape poverty.
For good reason, economic growth has long been
Environmental and sustainability professional, Dr Leyla Acaroglu, and next generation employee experience platform and intranet provider, Unily, have launched the Future of Workplace Sustainability Report, which explores how sustainability, climate change and COVID-19 are shaping the future of the workplace.
We are living in a time of great and
Since the 1990s, it has become increasingly normal to take environmental (E), social (S), and governance (G) factors into account when considering investing decisions. Yet the roots of what we now call “ESG investing” go as far back as the 1800s, when religious beliefs were an investing criterion for Methodists, Muslims, and Quakers. More recently,
The richest 1% of the global population is responsible for more than twice as much carbon dioxide emissions as the poorest half of the world, which consists of around three billion people.
That’s according to new research conducted by Stockholm Environment Institute for Oxfam, which suggests nearly half of the emissions generated
2020 is making us rethink our lives, per the pandemic and other worldwide events, which is why sustainability is fast becoming the new business reality.
Some people would call 2020 “biblical.” Fires raged across Australia for almost 80 days; a locust plague has ravaged East Africa; the Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically changed our way of living;
The phrase “every disaster movie begins with a scientist being ignored” resonates more than ever as two disasters unfold: the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. One is occurring with horrifying rapidity and one more slowly; both would be far less damaging if scientific advice were heeded earlier.
In the United States, the Trump administration has
It is a common observation – supported by the likes of the World Bank and the United Nations – that incorporating resilience into communities after a natural disaster helps prepare them for future catastrophes. This is known in the jargon as ‘building back better’.
Investors and asset managers serious about addressing the UN Sustainable Development
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said the coronavirus pandemic emphasized the importance of listening to experts during a time of crisis, and the same should be applied to climate change.
Thunberg took part in a digital conversation with earth systems scientist Johan Rockström, who also serves as the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate
The main concern that is paralysing the financial markets right now is uncertainty. Investors and the business community are questioning how long this crisis will last, and when consumer and investor confidence will return, with no end in sight.
But while none of us can predict the future, when it does return, one possible outcome is
New rules could spell the death of a “throwaway” culture in which products are bought, used briefly, then binned. The regulations will apply to a range of everyday items such as mobile phones, textiles, electronics, batteries, construction and packaging. They will ensure products are designed and manufactured so they last – and so they’re
Want to grow your money faster than the broader economy? Go even greener! Investors who have focused on ESG (environmental, social, and governance) funds are smiling lately due to lower exposure to fossil fuels and downside protection from last year’s market slumps.
Those are the results in from Bloomberg’s 4th annual ranking of large US ESG funds.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by researchers who worked on the atomic bomb. It publishes research on “manmade existential threats such as nuclear war, climate change, and disruptive technologies.”
And lately, it’s been a little bit, well, doomsaying. Its famous extinction clock has hovered for the last few
The world’s political and economic elite are descending on the small Swiss Alps town of Davos this week for the annual World Economic Forum meeting where they hope to set this year’s “global, regional and industry agendas.”
Approximately 3,000 people will be attending this year — from President Donald Trump to German
New research from the University of California San Diego finds that solar geoengineering–the intentional reflection of sunlight away from the Earth’s surface–may reduce income inequality between countries.
In a study recently published in Nature Communications, researchers examine the impacts of solar geoengineering on global and country-level economic outcomes. Using a state-of-the-art macroeconomic climate
The news for both climate change and economic inequality has been undeniably dire. In December the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual Arctic Report Card concluded that a critical cooling system around the North Pole may be breaking down, just the latest ominous survey about the existential threat of the
Climate change and its consequences have been in the headlines more than ever lately, and for good reason.
It is estimated that if the average global temperature rises by 2 degrees Celsius on average over the next decade, it will result in irreversible damage to our planet and its inhabitants. Governments and their leaders have yet
Climate change is the defining challenge of this generation, according to the United Nations, and if you ask NASA it is one of the most complex issues we face today. At the heart of the climate debate is the energy sector. There is now a global consensus that hydrogen is a key cornerstone on the
1. The Growing Immediacy of Climate Change
Directly experiencing extreme and volatile weather events will spur increased investor concern about climate risk in their portfolios.
Climate change is becoming a more immediate concern as people everywhere are
