
Climate Change Lessons from the U.S. Navy: Forest Reinhardt & Michael Toffel
01/12/22 • 24 min
Climate change poses two very different challenges to the U.S. Navy. First, the Navy has to buttress its billions of dollars of shoreline assets against rising sea levels. Second, it has to plan to be called on more often to address both military threats and humanitarian crises caused by climate change. In this episode of HBR Idea Cast, Climate Rising host Harvard Business School professor Mike Toffel and his colleague Forest Reinhardt discuss how the U.S. Navy is both addressing climate change and adapting to it. They explain what the private sector can learn from the Navy’s scientific and sober view of the world. Reinhardt and Toffel are the authors of the Harvard Business Review article, “Managing Limate Change: Lessons from the U.S. Navy”.
For transcripts and other resources, visit climaterising.org
Resources:
- S. Department of Defense report: DOD Installation Exposure to Climate Change at Home and Abroad (April 2021)
Climate change poses two very different challenges to the U.S. Navy. First, the Navy has to buttress its billions of dollars of shoreline assets against rising sea levels. Second, it has to plan to be called on more often to address both military threats and humanitarian crises caused by climate change. In this episode of HBR Idea Cast, Climate Rising host Harvard Business School professor Mike Toffel and his colleague Forest Reinhardt discuss how the U.S. Navy is both addressing climate change and adapting to it. They explain what the private sector can learn from the Navy’s scientific and sober view of the world. Reinhardt and Toffel are the authors of the Harvard Business Review article, “Managing Limate Change: Lessons from the U.S. Navy”.
For transcripts and other resources, visit climaterising.org
Resources:
- S. Department of Defense report: DOD Installation Exposure to Climate Change at Home and Abroad (April 2021)
Previous Episode

Rebecca Henderson: Can Capitalism Address Climate Change
As the impacts of climate change mount, questions have arisen about whether the capitalist economic system we have in place is able to adequately address them. But what if, rather than upending the system, we recognized the power capitalism offers when it is properly regulated? In this episode of the Ask a Harvard Professor podcast, Harvard Business School Professor Rebecca Henderson talks through her own efforts to reconcile the climate crisis with her faith in the ingenuity of capitalism. “I believe that at the moment, our capitalism is also neither free nor fair,” she says. “The free market works when everyone can take part, and prices reflect real costs”—when polluters have to pay the cost of emitting fossil fuels. Henderson walks us through her vision for reimagining the system to address climate change by returning to its roots and building just and sustainable capitalism.
For transcripts and other resources, visit climaterising.org
Next Episode

Making Infrastructure Climate Ready: Alice Hill, Council on Foreign Relations
In early 2021, a severe winter storm knocked out Texas’ power grid for days, leaving millions shivering in the dark and killing hundreds of residents. Other states have also been caught off guard by extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change. This episode of the Deep Background podcast features , Alice Hill who led the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s effort to develop its first-ever climate resilience plan, being interviewed by Harvard Law School professor Noah Feldman. Hill explains what Texas’ electrical grid collapse means for the United States’ infrastructure at large. She also makes recommendations to start preparing infrastructure to be more resilient to extreme weather events.
For transcripts and other resources, visit climaterising.org
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/climate-rising-125502/climate-change-lessons-from-the-us-navy-forest-reinhardt-and-michael-t-18964084"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to climate change lessons from the u.s. navy: forest reinhardt & michael toffel on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy