2018-11

Scientists assert that global warming must be kept below two degrees Celsius to avoid insurmountable global disruption. Getting there will require near total decarbonization of economic activity by 2060. Industrial manufacturing accounts for a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and worldwide.  Efforts to reduce energy consumption through more efficient operations have greatly reduced emissions but more innovation and investment is needed to decarbonize this critical sector.  What levers could be pulled to facilitate a more rapid transition to low-carbon manufacturing? 
 We focus on the three largest emitters of CO2 – steel, cement, and petrochemicals – and explore some of the ideas and technologies best positioned to decarbonize these industries, and the challenges faced for broader adoption. We then discuss the levers and opportunities in the industrial sector with Darden Professor Mike Lenox, who is a co-author on the report titled Path to 2060: Decarbonizing the Industrial Sector.
 This is the third in a series of podcasts from the Business Innovation and Climate Change Initiative at Darden’s Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation http://www.darden.virginia.edu/innovation-climate/. Episodes 5 and 7 of Research and Relevance discusses the automobile and electric utility industries.
Podcast hosted by Becky Duff, Senior Research Associate for the Business Innovation and Climate Change Initiative, Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

In our discussion with economists Pedro Matos and Jan Bena we explore their research on the impact of foreign investment on corporate innovation, as measured by number of patents. They describe the global corporate patent dataset they created, which is hosted by the Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and available for use by any scholars around the world who seek to better understand innovation outcomes. Matos and Bena share why this resource is novel and useful for researchers who have experienced limitations with earlier patent datasets. Hosted by Erika Herz from the Batten Institute.

As the world economy has become increasingly globalized and complex, it's not obvious what effects foreign investors have on the companies whose stock they hold. Is it possible that these foreign investors provide pools of capital that firms can access in order to produce stronger companies, or do global institutional investors behave more like a swarm of locusts, resulting in short-term corporate policy making such as reduction in capital expenditures?  We discuss these questions and implications for corporate leaders with Pedro Matos, Darden finance professor and faculty director of the Mayo Center for Asset Management, and Jan Bena, professor at the University of British Colombia Sauder School of Business and a Batten Research Fellow. Matos and Bena are co-authors of the briefing,Testing "The Locust Hypothesis": The Impact of Global Investors on Long-Term Investment & Innovation. Hosted by Erika Herz from Darden’s Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.