This piece ran as part of our focus on Harvard's endowment.


The green banners of sustainability have inspired action around campus, from rallies to individual students watching their energy consumption. Small scale efforts are a good start, but Harvard can make a greater impact by using some of its endowment to actively contribute to efforts to mitigate climate change.

Like any large corporation or university, Harvard has of course suffered large losses because of the current financial crisis. The most recent estimates put the damage at around $8 billion dollars, while the New York Times has warned that substantially more might be lost from harder-to-assess investments, some of which have not been revalued since Wall Street’s crash. Such a bleak financial picture has caused talk of tightened budgets, not spending sprees.

However potent the financial crisis may prove to be, it has not diminished Harvard’s standing as one of the world’s most recognizable educational institutions. Using the intangible power of institutional recognition, Harvard could back its much-fêted sustainability initiative with tangible, large-scale efforts. In order to accomplish this goal, Harvard should invest in alternative energy initiatives and set an example for other large institutions or corporations. A statement of this kind would demonstrate a serious commitment to solving the global problem of climate change by using its ample financial resources. These efforts could become even more valuable if they could be rendered profitable through the generation of alternative energy or other products.

Like any other project built on youthful enthusiasm and the desire for real change in the world, any plan to use Harvard’s endowment for environmental initiatives must be tempered with a dose of reality and understanding. For example, Martin L. Weitzman, a professor in the economics department, argues that the impact of Harvard’s endowment on the alternative energy field would be relatively small and limited to its symbolic significance. Instead, Dr. Weitzman favors large, sweeping public policy changes, such as a stiff tax on carbon emissions, in order to check the emission of harmful greenhouse gasses.

By combining Weitzman’s solution and the willingness of many students at the College to make a real difference in their carbon footprint, it’s possible to imagine a scenario where Harvard could serve as a test case of sorts. By recording every student’s energy usage and charging them accordingly, the administration could create real monetary incentives for students to live a greener lifestyle.

Alternatively, one could use the power of positive incentives and design a system where students could receive discounts on their term bill based on reductions in their carbon consumption. Either way, the choices and sacrifices to be made in reducing the emissions would educate students about the very real challenges we face in combating climate change.

Admittedly, the real impact of these initiatives would be relatively small. Harvard may have billions of dollars to work with, but that sum is a drop in the bucket when one considers the size of the American economy. We should not, however, be overwhelmed simply because the task of lowering carbon emissions is so large. Investing some of the endowment in new initiatives or in establishing Harvard as a carbon-tax test scenario obviously won’t solve the problem alone. But just because these efforts have no guarantee of concrete success does not mean they are not worthy undertakings. The entire nation will have to make sacrifices for us to really combat carbon emissions, but it can start at Harvard.

Until we can inspire our nation to move with a united effort to mitigate climate change, Harvard must take the lead in building a sustainable future. University Hall can hang all the green banners it wants, but Harvard must take real financial and social action if it wants to be a true champion of the environmental cause.


Alexander R. Konrad ’11, a Crimson editorial writer, is a history concentrator in Quincy House.