McKinsey Quarterly is the business journal of McKinsey & Company.
JANUARY 2012
Over the next quarter century, the rise of three billion more middle-class consumers will strain natural resources. The race is on to boost resource supplies, overhaul their management, and change the game with new technologies.
Historian Niall Ferguson, the CEO of a water services company, and Boeing’s lead environmental executive reflect on the resource transition under way, where it could be headed, and what it means for leaders now.
Innovation in energy technology is taking place rapidly. Five technologies you may not have heard of could be ready to change the energy landscape by 2020.
JUNE 2010
Africa’s climate already poses grave risks to the continent’s people and economies, and global warming promises to intensify the problem. A factual risk-management solution can help.
JANUARY 2010
There is great potential to reduce energy consumption and minimize its total cost by using existing technologies—and without changing the everyday habits of consumers.
FEBRUARY 2010
Oil and natural gas companies play a central role in CO2 emissions. How can the industry meet the challenge from climate change regulations?
The carmaker’s executive chairman talks about its prospects, technological change in the industry, and manufacturing in America.
DECEMBER 2009
In a collaboration between Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and McKinsey, a panel of experts and CEOs from leading energy companies debate the critical scientific, resource, and policy issues challenging energy sustainability today.
MAY 2009
China can and must achieve sustainable growth. Although the country has already charted an ambitious course to improve its energy efficiency and environment, a McKinsey study finds opportunities to do even more.
South Africa faces a growing gap between water supply and demand. The most effective solutions will cater to the specific agricultural, industrial, and domestic needs of the country’s different basins.
Tom Albanese explains how Rio Tinto is adapting its operations to a future when climate change may make the world’s dry parts drier and wet parts wetter.
For many companies, water efficiency is a long-term requirement for staying in business, a big commercial opportunity, or both.
The chairman of Nestlé explains why water is “by far the most valuable resource on this planet” and what we must do to conserve it.
The solution to water scarcity, in part, will come from new technologies for better managing water as a resource. But to make these technologies more effective, business and policy leaders will need to work more closely to implement them.
NOVEMBER 2011
Cheap resources underpinned economic growth for much of the 20th century. The 21st will be different.
APRIL 2011
To succeed, African countries must narrow their focus and target high-impact projects.
Carbon markets will continue to play a role in pricing—and limiting—emissions, but the opportunity in developing markets may be less promising than once expected.
OCTOBER 2011
More companies are managing sustainability to improve processes, pursue growth, and add value to their companies rather than focusing on reputation alone.
AUGUST 2010
As with climate change a few years ago, executives are now beginning to recognize the importance of biodiversity for their future strategies. Many are also discovering business opportunities, not just threats.
FEBRUARY 2009
Environmental, social, and governance programs create shareholder value, most executives believe, but neither CFOs nor professional investors fully include that when evaluating business projects or companies.
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European utilities may soon have to earn a growing share of their profits by helping households save energy rather than consume it.
NOVEMBER 2009
The US biofuels industry must address midstream ethanol distribution bottlenecks if it hopes to deliver next-generation ethanol in a cost-effective manner.
SEPTEMBER 2009
Solar power is poised to grow into a reliable alternative energy source, promising lower carbon emissions and decreased dependence on fossil fuels. What technologies are currently jostling for leadership in the market?
AUGUST 2009
Only a collaboration between the two countries will create an environment where clean-energy technologies can thrive.
For more McKinsey research in this area, visit our Sustainability & Resource Productivity page.
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