Over the course of my fellowship with the Climate Knowledge Initiative (CKI), within the Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change, I had the opportunity to develop investment rationales for energy transition technologies, specifically low-carbon hydrogen. The fellowship afforded me the opportunity to develop an expertise in technology that was channeled into a final deliverable. This is expected to be used as a guide for discussions among industry executives at the fall 2024 working group hosted by Columbia Business School (CBS). Due to the nature of both CKI and Tamer Instititue’s academic settings, we were able to offer the market an unbiased recommendation of how to best deploy capital and technologies to reduce carbon output. My deliverable fits into a larger group of investment rationales for complementary technologies, affording the CKI team the opportunity to provide the industry with full market context. While many firms have developed their own perspectives on the future of some of these technologies, we believe that ours provides the greatest opportunity to compare and contrast rationales that are not just comprehensive but also impartial.

Having worked in commodity oil markets prior to starting my MBA, my main motivation in enrolling at CBS was to build upon this expertise and pivot into renewable energy markets. While courses like Climate Finance and Business and Climate Change allowed me to develop a foundation in these markets during the first year of my program, I knew I wanted to take advantage of my time at CBS and spend the summer pursuing an opportunity uniquely associated with the University. In working directly with one of my first-year professors over the course of the summer, I saw direct ties to his coursework almost immediately with topics like production tax credits and sectoral emission abatement strategies. Familiarity with these concepts certainly gave me a head start in my work for the summer, but also provided the foundation for applying these concepts to real world scenarios. The Tamer Institute provided me with the crucial opportunity to take the leap from conceptual to practical in a supportive environmen t —an opportunity that is not necessarily given at all business schools.

While investment rationale for specific energy transition technologies have been previously developed, CKI aimed to create a comprehensive effort to address all existing technologies and paint a picture of their potential collective impact. This overall process stimulated great debate and collaboration that helped us tackle associated challenges.

One of the major challenges we faced was ensuring consistency and cohesiveness in developing carbon abatement projections by sector. Sources of carbon emissions can be addressed by more than one technology, meaning that abatement technologies can compete for market shares in the same sector. Preventing the potential overlap in abatement estimates meant cross-technology collaboration within the broader CKI team. Regular comparisons with our colleagues’ estimates allowed us to be confident in the accuracy of our projections while offering an exposure to technologies beyond our own expertise. In addition to finalizing these projections, we were also able to develop a model that can be used by future CKI fellows to simplify updates to projections.

With the ability to extend concepts from the classroom into the market, my fellowship confirmed my interest in pivoting from work in traditional commodities to renewable energy. This summer was the first time I’ve been able to fully dedicate my efforts to renewable energy and gave me a preview into what my career path could look like post-graduation. While my work over the summer pertained to low-carbon hydrogen, collaboration with other fellows gave me insight into other energy transition technologies, allowing me to consider a broad range of opportunities for full-time employment. Apart from refining my own professional interests, the fellowship allowed me to meet other like-minded individuals across graduate programs, forming relationships that will certainly extend beyond our respective studies. Meeting so many individuals interested in the intersection of business and climate change not only expanded our networks but made us all optimistic for further advancement in the industry.