By Fran Sussman

Andrew Revkin’s column in DOT Earth about Harvard’s decision not to divest its investments in fossil fuels included some observations by Robert Stavins, a noted Harvard economist. One was particularly provocative:

“If divestment were to reduce the financial resources of coal, oil, and gas companies (which it would NOT do), this would only reduce research and development at those same companies of: carbon capture and storage technologies; other key technological breakthroughs; and renewable sources of energy (the fossil fuel companies are carrying out much of the R&D on renewables).” (more…)