June 1, 2021 Helen Wiley, interviewer California’s coast is threatened by the impacts of sea level rise with projections indicating a half-foot rise by 2030, a two-foot rise by 2050, and a seven-foot rise by 2100. Increased sea levels will exacerbate the damage caused by coastal erosion, and storm surge,…Read More
ESG Initiative News
Washington DC’s Environmental Impact Bond – A Q&A with Benjamin Cohen
May 25, 2021 Alison Milman Alison Millman is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics with a minor in Sustainability and Environmental Management. In addition to studying environmental governance and novel approaches to social impact, she participated in the Risk Center's Undergraduate Fellowship…Read More
Evaluating Public Education Campaigns for Vaccinations: A Q&A with Elissa Kranzler
May 18, 2021 Zoë Linder-Baptie Elissa Kranzler, PhD, is a social scientist and former Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Wharton Risk Center (2018-2020). She studies the relationship between media messaging and risk behaviors. We spoke with her this spring to hear about her current position and the connections to her…Read More
How to Overcome Cognitive Biases Against Climate Action
May 9, 2021 Howard Kunreuther and Robert Meyer This blog post originally appeared in The Hill’s Changing America as an Opinion Piece on April 21, 2021. The Biden administration has clearly indicated that climate change is a critically important issue on its agenda. Given the polarization of the country, a challenge…Read More
Status Update: Climate Action & the SEC
April 19, 2021 Ben Thomas Investors are increasingly concerned with how their investments are affected by the impacts of climate change and the role that companies they invest in play in the transition to a low-carbon economy. This concern has not gone unnoticed by regulators and financial institutions—including the Securities…Read More
A Case for Forward-Looking Environmental Risk Communication Around Lead Poisoning in Northern Nigeria
April 1, 2021 Eve Robinson Eve Robinson is a fourth-year student in the University of Pennsylvania’s Huntsman Program. She is concentrating in Environmental Policy and Management at Wharton and studying International Studies in the College. Her interests are in environmental justice, education policy, and urban sustainable development. From 2010 to…Read More
Racial Justice without Environmental Justice is No Justice at All
Racial Justice without Environmental Justice is No Justice at All March 16, 2021 Lexie Shah Lexie Shah is a fourth-year undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studies political science in the College of Arts & Sciences and is a Wharton public policy research scholar. Her interests include…Read More
EV Turning Point: Momentum Builds for U.S. Electric Vehicle Transition
(Outlet: Yale Environment 360) – Last month’s failure of the Texas electric grid, coming just weeks after General Motors’ pledge to make only electric vehicles by 2035, highlights…Read More
17 Social Impact Leaders Receiving Loan Forgiveness Awards in 2021
The ESG Initiative is pleased to announce the 2021 recipients of the John M. Bendheim Loan Forgiveness Fund for Public Service.…Read More
The Smart Grid, A Smart Investment
February 11, 2021 Monica Volodarsky Monica is a senior at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania studying Finance and Social Impact & Responsibility. She is passionate about utilizing private-public partnerships to catalyze ecosystem-oriented positive social change. How does one tree create a dip in America’s GDP? It falls…Read More