Despite Industry Turmoil, MBAs are Still Excited to Work on Climate
Last month, ClimateCAP launched ClimateCATALYST, a high-impact summer program designed for incoming MBA students who want to lead at the intersection of climate strategy and business. Before classes at most schools began, participating students opted in to presentations from faculty on climate science, energy fundamentals, the policy landscape, and the financial implications of climate risks. Students also had opportunities hear from career experts and MBA alumni, and to network virtually.
“We were so pleased to have 550 students from 81 MBA programs register for this program in our inaugural year,” said ClimateCAP Program Lead, Jessica Wingert. “These MBA students proved that they are not being deterred by fluctuating job markets or shifting policy landscapes, but rather that they are more committed than ever to working on climate.”
The 3-day virtual program began with a lecture from Professor Andrew Isaacs of UC-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business walking students through essential climate science principles. He emphasized why every MBA should be able to interpret a climate map or emissions pathway graph. As future business leaders, MBAs need to be able to understand the impacts of the climate data and then apply that to their business strategies.
Over the course of the program, speakers from other top business schools painted a picture of the building blocks of climate risks and opportunities, covering topics from decarbonization and energy transitions to climate risk and policy influence. Here are four takeaways from ClimateCATALYST that MBA students can apply during their academic program.
Statistics of Student Interest in Climate Issues
1. Climate Strategy is Business Strategy
Across industries, climate action is no longer a side initiative, it’s a driver of competitive advantage. Decarbonization isn’t just about reducing emissions; it's about improving operations, reducing costs, and providing value to customers. Professor Mike Toffel of Harvard Business School grounded the session on decarbonization with a simple but powerful idea: it’s critical to link decarbonization to creating business value.
Toffel encouraged MBAs to dig into the mechanics of how decarbonization happens, through product design, operations, supply chains, and systems change. He walked through real business case studies that demonstrated how companies apply strategic decarbonization to their business operations, with examples such as switching to low-carbon materials, redesigning logistics with fuel switching, and developing more energy-efficient products. He also underscored the importance of systems thinking and moving beyond the company’s immediate value chain to accelerate innovation, citing cross-sector alliances that influence standards, policy, and consumer norms.
🔎 Action for MBAs: Learn to analyze business functions such as supply chains, logistics, and procurement, through a decarbonization lens. When evaluating potential employers, ask yourself "Where does climate show up in their core business strategy?"
2. Energy is Central to Climate and Business
“Energy is a huge piece of the climate puzzle,” said Jonathan Silverthorne of Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. Silverthorne explained that understanding energy generation, delivery, and consumption is foundational for any climate-savvy business leader.
He walked students through how emissions are embedded not just in fossil fuel production, but in industrial use, buildings, and transportation, demonstrating why the energy transition is so difficult, and fortunately, so full of business opportunity.
The challenge that future business leaders will face is how to build a low-carbon system while energy demand continues to grow globally. Opportunities are everywhere, from investing in renewables, electrification, developing energy storage, and grid modernization, and all areas are primed for entrepreneurial and climate-minded MBAs.
🔎 Action for MBAs: Take a class on energy markets, policy, or infrastructure. Interested in the startup world? Explore internship opportunities with grid tech, battery, or clean energy startups.
3. Finance and Metrics are the Language of Accountability
Dr. Phillip Bruner of the University of Washington challenged students to see climate not as a distant threat but as a present financial disruptor. “We can all observe that these weather-related events are becoming more frequent, more costly, and that the weather is becoming more difficult to predict,” Bruner shared. As a result, the financial impacts such as storm damage, insurance withdrawal, mortgage risk are already happening. As a result, as we move into a climate-destabilized world, resilience is now a core business strategy.
In parallel, during the Climate Metrics & Measurement session, Brian Noveck from Environ Energy shared, “you can't manage what you don't measure,” noting that what gets measured is quickly evolving with changing standards and policy. Brad Sparks from Accounting for Sustainability (A4S), outlined how climate-related reporting has matured over the years to investor-grade disclosures. New global standards are driving this change, and increasingly there is a tie between sustainability reporting and financial reporting, due to the material financial impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities.
🔎 Action for MBAs: Learn the basics of GHG accounting, physical and financial risk modeling, and join conversations on how financial systems must evolve for a warming world.
4. Policy Isn’t Just for Policymakers—It’s a Business Imperative
Bethany Patten of MIT Sloan delivered a clear message in her policy primer: Future business leaders must play an active, strategic role in shaping and influencing climate policy to protect their interests, create value, and advance sustainability goals.
Patten outlined how policy influences markets through taxation, subsidies, regulation, and trade, and how businesses often use lobbying to try to shape those policies in their favor. Further complicating these efforts are the conflicting goals or lack of internal communication that often put teams within organizations working against each other on climate issues. “You have sustainability folks working really hard to reduce emissions, and then you have the lobbyists who are not talking about [climate issues] at all,” Patten explained.
She urged students to not just monitor policy but responsibly participate in shaping it. “As you are getting into your organizations or internships you'll start to notice where policy is getting in the way of you progress... you'll start to see where there are unique places to engage, whether it's at the local, national, or international level,” Patten recommended.
🔎 Action for MBAs: Follow the changing federal policies in the US and abroad, but don’t forget the importance of understanding the impacts of more localized policies. Understand the trade associations that prospective employers are members of and how that aligns, or doesn’t, with their corporate sustainability goals.
Final Word: Lead While You Learn
As Katie Kross, co-founder of ClimateCAP shared in the closing session, “You don’t need to wait until graduation to make an impact. Bring climate into your classroom discussions. Join a case competition. Help your career club green its events.”
MBAs are not just preparing for climate careers—they’re shaping what business and climate leadership will look like in the decades ahead.