Climate and Sustainability
Our rapidly changing climate is causing a range of environmental problems that threaten our health, economy, planet, and humanity. To solve the climate crisis, we need engineers to develop the technologies that will create more sustainable materials and practices, and we need entrepreneurs to bring these solutions to scale. At every stage, we need leaders who view themselves as global citizens, act in the interest of others, and place the long-term health of the planet above short-term personal gains.
STVP, the Stanford Engineering Entrepreneurship Center, has a unique and imperative role to play in keeping our planet thriving for generations to come. We help aspiring entrepreneurs seize the climate challenge as an opportunity. Leveraging School of Engineering research on sustainability and climate change, we collaborate across Stanford to understand what is unique about climate and sustainability entrepreneurship, train a new generation of entrepreneurs to brave this existential crisis, and engage with educators around the world to create a network of entrepreneurs focused on sustainability.
Our Approach
SOLVE CHALLENGES
Train leaders to harness engineering principles, ethical decision making, and emerging technologies to solve major challenges.
EMPOWER EVERYONE
Be a catalyst for individual, community, and global change through entrepreneurial knowledge, skills, and mindsets.
BENEFIT HUMANITY
Lead a movement to educate technology entrepreneurs as global citizens who act in the interest of others.
Programs & research
As part of our commitment to the climate and sustainability space, we are proud to share our current programs and research.
Move Fast & Fix the Planet Podcast
With less than a decade to avert the worst impacts of climate change, we need talented engineers and entrepreneurs to design and scale solutions. In Move Fast and Fix the Planet, Stanford professor Mike Lepech uncovers unique aspects of climate and sustainability entrepreneurship through interviews with experts in innovation, venture capital, policy, and more. Learn what makes them tick and what gives them hope as you gain insights on your path to ecopreneurship. This podcast series is produced by STVP, the Stanford Engineering Entrepreneurship Center, and supported by Stanford Ecopreneurship Programs.
Climate Focused Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders
Brought to you by MS&E 472
Climate Focused Entrepreneurship education
In Spring 2023, we launched a brand new Climate and Sustainability seminar course CEE246D that has continued this Fall. It provides a fresh perspective on global opportunities and challenges with climate change and sustainability by exploring the role of large companies in the innovation ecosystem. Each week features a different prominent business executive, intrapreneur, or innovator who will share their perspective on the key topics around driving sustainable impact. What is the role of corporations, and in particular the intrapreneurs within large companies to help address the needed speed and scale of climate and sustainability solutions? How can start-ups and large companies work symbiotically in an ecosystem to accelerate change? What are the strengths and challenges of addressing large global needs from within large corporations?
The course has been taught by STVP Faculty Michael Lepech, Adjunct Professor Pedram Mokrian and Jeff Wong, who is currently the Chief Innovation Officer at Ernst and Young. See Learning Paths for additional Climate & Sustainability focused classes available by or in partnership with STVP.
Articles & Research
| Location | Titles |
|---|---|
| Stanford eCorner | Scaling a Climate Tech Company |
| Stanford eCorner | Navigating the Pressures of Climate Tech |
| Stanford eCorner | So You Want to Be a Climate Tech Entrepreneur |
| Youtube | Dissecting Meat Dependence |
| Youtube | The Evolution of Clean Tech Investing |
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the robust collaboration from colleagues at Stanford and around the world, that have helped us put together our climate and sustainability initiative.
Advisory Council
A special thank you to our climate advisory council.
Dan Dorosin
Partner, Fenwick & West LLP
Radhika Malpani
Lecturer at the Doerr School of Sustainability at Stanford
Bill Ferry
Management Consultant
Pedram Mokrian
Adjunct Lecturer, CEE at Stanford & Partner at Newline Ventures
Kevin Hsu
Doctoral Researcher – MIT
Steve Weinstein
Adjunct Lecturer, MS&E at Stanford University & Founder and CEO of MovieLabs, and Co-founder of KineTrope
Team
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