Cement is essential for development ' but carbon-intensive. This innovative material can cut its emissions by 40%, paving the way to low-carbon building....

By many measures, the first two decades of the 21st century have been a time of opportunity and abundance — notwithstanding the 2008 global financial crisis. Our world has been transformed by the internet and smartphones. A billion people have come out of poverty. Employment relative to population in OECD countries is now above 70% — a record. And most economies are once again expanding at a steady if not spectacular clip....

In recent years, a growing number of companies around the world have voluntarily adopted and implemented a broad range of sustainability practices. The accelerating rate of adoption of these practices has also provoked a debate about the nature of sustainability and its long-term implications for organizations. Is the adoption of sustainability practices a form of strategic differentiation that can lead to superior financial performance? Or, is it a strategic necessity that can ensure corporate survival but not necessarily outperformance?...

In his recent annual letter to CEOs, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink makes the stunning claim that climate change has brought us to “the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance” and “in the near future … a significant reallocation of capital.” BlackRock has committed to “place sustainability at the center of [its] investment approach.” Although BlackRock cannot divest of companies in its index funds, Fink makes it clear that they will be “increasingly disposed to vote against management and board directors when companies are not making sufficient progress on sustainability-related disclosures and the business practices and plans underlying them.”...