Settling Climate Accounts: Navigating the Road to Net Zero 1st ed. 2021 Edition

“This powerful and often provocative book provides a comprehensive map of technical and political challenges, as well as much-needed choices, to give traction and content to the goal of a world with Net Zero carbon emissions. In a time when this approach has been embraced by so many corporations and governments, Settling Climate Accounts gives new lenses through which one can interpret and hopefully steer today’s global negotiations and individual actions.”

―Joaquim Levy, former Chief Financial Officer, World Bank Group and former Finance Minister of Brazil

“In setting ‘Net Zero’ goals far into the future, it can be tempting to gloss over the actual impacts of the transition toward those goals. Heller and Seiger tackle the issue head-on in Settling Climate Accounts, cautioning that aligning emissions toward zero must be married to real-world strategies to reduce economic risks to sectors and communities. This is an important historical review of what has and has not worked at the intersection of climate finance and policy, and a must-read for those looking to do better going forward.”

―Kate Gordon, Senior Advisor to the US Secretary of Energy

“Net Zero has become the principal driver of climate action as evidenced by the commitments of leading firms and banks. This book effectively addresses key sustainable pathways from the intersection of climate sciences, business and public policy.”

―Anne Finucane, Vice Chairman, Bank of America

Thomas Heller is the Charles and Nadine Shelton Professor of International Legal Studies (emeritus) at Stanford University Law School. He also currently directs the Precourt Energy Institute’s Sustainable Finance Initiative and the Steyer-Taylor Center at Stanford. In 2009 Heller founded the Climate Policy Initiative, where he was Executive Director until 2018, and remains Senior Advisor and Board Chair.  As of January 2021, he became Senior Director (Risk) at WillisTowersWatson.

Alicia Seiger is a lecturer at Stanford Law School and leads sustainability and energy finance initiatives at Stanford Law, Graduate School of Business, and the Precourt Institute for Energy. Alicia has served as an advisor to the Governors of California and New York, the New York State Comptroller, and numerous pension fund, endowment, and family office CIOs on the topics of climate risk, opportunity, and resiliency. A student of balancing human and ecological systems since the early 1990s, Alicia has been designing and executing climate and energy strategies for businesses, foundations, investors, and NGOs since 2004.

Thomas Heller is the Charles and Nadine Shelton Professor of International Legal Studies (emeritus) at Stanford University Law School. He also currently directs the Precourt Energy Institute’s Sustainable Finance Initiative and the Steyer-Taylor Center at Stanford. In 2009 Heller founded the Climate Policy Initiative, where he was Executive Director until 2018, and remains Senior Advisor and Board Chair.  As of January 2021, he became Senior Director (Risk) at WillisTowersWatson. His research has focused on risk analytics, global energy use, international climate regimes, public finance and taxation, international technology investment, and the rule of law―with particular attention to legal and economic structures in the developing world. Professor Heller has worked with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (1995-2003), and has served as Jean Monnet Visiting Professor at the European University Institute, Deputy Director and Senior Fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, and Senior Fellow (by courtesy) at the Woods Institute for the Environment.

Alicia Seiger is a lecturer at Stanford Law School and leads sustainability and energy finance initiatives at Stanford Law, Graduate School of Business, and the Precourt Institute for Energy. Alicia has served as an advisor to the Governors of California and New York, the New York State Comptroller, and numerous pension fund, endowment, and family office CIOs on the topics of climate risk, opportunity, and resiliency. A student of balancing human and ecological systems since the early 1990s, Alicia has been designing and executing climate and energy strategies for businesses, foundations, investors, and NGOs since 2004. She has served on the management teams of multiple startups including TerraPass, a pioneer of the US carbon offset market. Alicia serves on the boards of Ceres and Prime Coalition and co-founded Stanford Professionals in Energy (SPIE).