Sustained Investment to Avoid a Climate Catastrophe with Columbia University’s Bruce Usher

Tucker continues his series of conversations from Climate Week in New York City with a fascinating discussion with climate finance expert Bruce Usher, who is part of the faculty at both the Columbia Business School and Climate School. Professor Usher recently wrote the book, Investing in the Era of Climate Change, which offers an indispensable guide to the risks and opportunities for investors as the world faces climate change.

In the book he explores the role that investment plays in reducing emissions to net zero by 2050, detailing how to finance the winners and avoid the losers in a transforming global economy.

Among the topics Tucker covers with Professor Usher:

• How the Columbia Climate School is educating bright young people to go out into the business world and help lead the decarbonization of the global economy.
• His career in finance and transitioning from Wall Street to focus on climate.
• Why climate change is framed as an environmental issue but should really be a business and economic issue because greenhouse gas emissions come from business activity.
• You can’t solve climate change without finance and business and how that is starting to happen.
• The challenges to the business models of traditional energy companies and the uncertainties they face investing in new technologies.
• His 2019 book, Renewable Energy: A Primer for the Twenty-First Century.
• The transition risk faced by all businesses.
• How the Inflation Reduction Act is having a stronger impact on the economy than originally anticipated.
• Putting so much attention on what we’re not doing about climate change is not very helpful and how leaders should be more focused on what is working and how we can do more of it.
• How we can decarbonize half of the world economy with existing technologies.