On November 19, 2009, Columbia Business School held its Community Forum on Climate Change to explore the burgeoning field of environmental policy and climate change. Moderated by Chris Mayer, Senior Vice Dean and Paul Milstein Professor of Real Estate at Columbia Business School, the discussion featured Kevin Parker, Global Head of Deutsche Asset Management; Geoffrey Heal, Paul Garrett Professor of Public Policy and Business Responsibility at Columbia Business School; Bruce Usher, CEO of EcoSecurities and adjunct professor in the Finance and Economics Division and Social Enterprise Program at Columbia Business School; and Elke Weber, Jerome A. Chazen Professor of International Business and Co-Director of the Center for Decision Sciences at Columbia Business School.
As espoused by the panelists of Columbia Business School's Community Forum on Climate Change, there is more than one way to solve the climate crisis. Policy makers must promote a regulatory environment that fosters investment in renewable energy technologies. Halting the destruction of the world's forests is also crucial, and incentives like UN-REDD, the United Nations Collaborative Program on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries, are pivotal to driving such action. Other market mechanisms such as the Clean Development Mechanism spur the development of clean energy initiatives and flow of capital to renewable energy technologies. Finally, addressing the climate crisis means raising awareness and reshaping public opinion.