Harvard Business Review on Greening Your Business Profitably

Competitive Advantage on a Warming Planet

by Jonathan Lash and Fred Wellington

WHETHER YOU’RE IN A TRADITIONAL smokestack industry or a “clean” business like investment banking, your company will increasingly feel the effects of climate change. Even people skeptical of the dangers of global warming are recognizing that simply because so many others are concerned, the phenomenon has wide-ranging implications.

Investors already are discounting share prices of companies poorly positioned to compete in a warming world. Many businesses face higher raw material and energy costs as governments around the globe increasingly enact policies placing a cost on emissions. Consumers are taking into account a company’s environmental record when making purchasing ...