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
ESG Initiative News
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
Emergency Management in Philadelphia: a Q&A with Adam Thiel
January 27th, 2021 Zoë Linder-Baptie As the sixth largest city in the United States, Philadelphia faces a myriad of risks due to its major transportation corridors, including two rivers, and the nearby technological hazard of the former Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery. We also face extreme weather on a regular basis.…Read More
Why Biden should launch an Ecosystem Restoration Corps in 2021
January 13, 2021 Carolyn Kousky This blog post originally appeared in The Hill's Changing America as an Opinion Piece on December 31, 2020. Healthy ecosystems support society with an array of important goods and services. They provide recreational opportunities, sequester carbon, purify our air and water, combat urban heat and increase…Read More
Urban Food System Resilience and Supply Chain Vulnerabilities
Urban Food System Resilience and Supply Chain Vulnerabilities December 17, 2020 Maeve Masterson is a junior in the School of Arts & Sciences majoring in Environmental Studies with a concentration in environmental management and sustainability. She is minoring in Economic Policy and is a second year Undergraduate Fellow at the…Read More
WIVA Explores Melanence, an E-Learning Startup Focused on Communities of Color
A team of Penn students in Wharton Impact Venture Associates (WIVA) researched Melanence – an online professional ecosystem where communities of color are empowered to grow skills, build networks, and earn additional income.…Read More
Cities and Climate Risk: a Q&A with the City of Pittsburgh
November 19, 2020 Carolyn Kousky and Ben Thomas Municipalities are facing increasing financial and operational pressure from the impacts of climate change. As mentioned in a previous Risk Center Q&A with Breckenridge Capital Advisors, climate risks may impact the creditworthiness of municipalities in a way not currently being accounted for.…Read More
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Harvard Business School, and University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School Collaborate on Impact Investing Data Collection
The ESG Initiative at the Wharton School News The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Harvard Business School, and University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School Collaborate on Impact Investing Data Collection New joint effort will advance both research and practice in impact investing PHILADELPHIA, October 28, 2020 – Chicago Booth’s…Read More