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Todd Cort

Todd Cort

Senior Lecturer in Sustainability; Faculty Director of Sustainability Program, MBA for Executives; Faculty Co-Director, Yale Center for Business and the Environment

Dr. Cort works at the intersection of sustainability and investor value. Over the course of 20 years, in consulting and academia, he has applied a scientific and economic lens to corporate social and environmental responsibility (or sustainability) in order to identify the tools, mechanisms, metrics and indicators that create the greatest value for investors, businesses and society. Todd has worked extensively with companies and investors across industrial sectors. His experience ranges from ‘on the ground’ implementation of sustainability programs to corporate level communication and investor strategy development.  He has also worked extensively on integrated programs to meet regulatory requirements while promoting awareness and understanding of sustainability priorities through communications and engagement with communities, regulators, policy makers and internal stakeholders.   
 
Todd has a courtesy appointment at the Yale School of the Environment. He serves as Faculty Co-Director for the Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY) and the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance (YISF).  He serves on a variety of advisory boards including the JUST Capital Scientific Advisory Board and the PRIME Coalition Academic Advisory Committee and Merck Sustainability Advisory Committee. He is also currently Board Chair for Save the Sound, a regional environmental non-profit serving communities around Long Island Sound.

Education

  • PhD, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2000
  • MS, University of Colorado, Boulder, 1997
  • BS, University of California, San Diego, 1993

Articles

Values at Work: The State of ESG Investing

Esty D. and T. Cort
Palgrave MacMillan
2020

ESG Standards: Looming Challenges and Pathways Forward

Esty D. and T. Cort
Organization & Environment, issue 33, vol. 4, pp. 491-510
2019

A Better Planet: Forty Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future

T. Cort
Making Companies Work for Society: Harnessing Global Financial Markets for Sustainability, Yale University Press
2019

Data-Driven Green Bond Ratings: The Key to Climate Finance

T. Cort, P. Reed and L. Yonavjak
The Journal of Investing, issue 28, vol. 2, pp. 66-76
2018

Sustainable Innovation and Impact

C. Krosinsky and T. Cort
Routledge
2018

Achievements

  • F.K. Weyerhauser Memorial Fund Grant for Interdisciplinary Research in Business and the Environment to study Data-Driven Green Bond Standards, 2017
    California Professional Civil Engineer, 2005
    Lead Certified Sustainability Assurance Practitioner, 2012