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Truman Semans (born April 28, 1966) is an American entrepreneur and Thought leader in the field of environmental sustainability, business, and investing.

Bildung

Semans was educated at Duke University, receiving a B.A. from Duke's Trinity College of Arts and Sciences in 1990 and an MBA from its Fuqua School of Business in 2001. He also received an M.A. in economics and international affairs from the John Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Sustainable Economic Development

In 1993, at the International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC), Semans and Robert K. Watson of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) worked with partners in the U.S. Congress to require the World Bank Group to adopt policies supporting increased investment in energy efficiency across its $23 billion financing portfolio, as a condition for receiving overseas development assistance appropriations from the U.S. These policy approaches to improve the economic returns and environmental impact of power sector development, such as data driven Integrated Resources Planning, were then adopted by other multilateral development banks including the Asian Development Bank in 1995, Inter-American Development Bank, and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

In 1995 and 1996, he advised U.S. negotiators as an NGO Observer to the First and Second Conferences of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Berlin and Geneva, which launched the process resulting in the Kyoto Protocol.

Joining the U.S. Treasury Department later in 1995, Semans led the U.S. Government’s Interagency Working Group on the Global Environment Facility (GEF), coordinating efforts to improve effectiveness of the GEF, then the largest funder worldwide of the incremental cost of renewable energy and biodiversity conservation for developing countries, including launch of the Small Grants Program which “has invested $450 million and leveraged similar levels of co-financing supporting over 14,500 community based projects in over 125 countries” and launch of programs with the International Finance Corporation to provide risk capital for innovative, scalable market-based energy and conservation projects with global environmental benefits. As part of the Unites States Government climate change negotiating team from 1995-1999, he led negotiations for the U.S. in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Financial Mechanism for investments to address climate change.

Growing Green Business

In 1999, Semans founded Global Sustainability Strategies, a consultancy helping companies, governments, and NGOs including the United Nations Foundation to build innovative businesses and financing tools for sustainable products and services. Semans joined McKinsey and Company in 2001.

In 2005, former Assistant Secretary of State Eileen Claussen asked Semans to run the Business Environmental Leadership Council (BELC) of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change’s Center for Climate and Energy Solutions . The BELC “comprises 44 companies with $2.8 trillion in market capitalization, a sizable chunk of the world economy,” according to McClatchy Newspapers.

The BELC was controversial, drawing criticism from some critics for its core principle that addressing climate change can be good for businesses and also good for society. Dierdre Griswold wrote in Worker’s World, “This wing of the ruling class has decided that there is a lot of money to be made from new technologies that may, or may not, slow down global warming. They want to push “market-based mechanisms” because that’s where the money is.”

Semans commissioned major reports including “Adapting to Climate Change: A New Frontier For Business” by ICF International, and collaborated with Dr. Andy Hoffman on “Getting Ahead of the Curve: Corporate Strategies That Address Climate Change.” The Harvard Business Review described the Corporate Strategies report “a highly practical and comprehensive report — a how-to manual for companies interested in developing effective climate strategies. with lengthy case studies of BELC companies” but said its case studies of Swiss Re, Whirlpool, Alcoa, Shell, and DuPont “occasionally take on rather too celebratory a tone.”

U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP)

In September 2005, Semans published an article in Petroleum Economist outlining the business case for major energy producers and energy-intensive companies to work with Congress on legislation to address climate change through a cap-and-trade system. Semans and Claussen began to organize a sub-group of the most progressive BELC companies to work on a plan for federal climate policy with regulation of greenhouse gases. Initially explored as a collaboration with Goldman Sachs, which then was led by Henry Paulson, who later emerged as a passionate advocate for action to integrate climate change into investing calling climate “the single biggest risk to the economy today,” the Pew effort merged in January 2006 with a similar initiative envisioned by General Electric, Environmental Defense Fund, and World Resources Institute to form the Climate Change Initiative. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) joined the group, and Semans and Claussen recruited BELC companies Alcoa, BP, Caterpillar Inc., Duke Energy, DuPont, Florida Power & Light, Pacific Gas and Electric, and PNM Resources.

The CCI worked in secret throughout 2006, facilitated by the Meridian Institute. On January 22, 2007, the CCI launched publicly as the U.S. Climate Action Partnership with its A Call for Action report, pressing Congress to pass legislation establishing a mandatory cap-and-trade system on carbon dioxide emissions as a means to accelerate low carbon technology. The limits would equal 10-30 percent over the next 15 years and reductions of 60-80 percent of current levels by 2050. The report was released in a press conference by the member CEOs including Claussen, Jeff Immelt of GE, James E. Rogers Jr. of Duke Energy, Chad Holliday of DuPont, James W. Owens of Caterpillar, Peter Darbee of PG&E, Alain J. P. Belda of Alcoa, Fred Krupp of EDF, Frances Beinecke of NRDC, and Jonathan Lash of WRI. Two days later, in the State of the Union address, President George W. Bush said, “America is on the verge of technological breakthroughs that will enable us to live our lives less dependent on oil. And these technologies will help us be better stewards of the environment, and they will help us to confront the serious challenge of global climate change,” but the President did not support mandatory caps. By 2009, more than a dozen other BELC members had joined, along with a few additional companies such as Xerox and NGOs the National Wildlife Federation and The Nature Conservancy.

USCAP was highly controversial, assailed from both the right and the left. Environmental NGOs including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth strongly criticized the Call for Action proposal. Greenpeace’s statement said, “…it should be viewed for what it is: a political document from polluters hoping to cut a favorable deal for themselves. It is not a science-based response to global warming.” According to Reuters, Robert E. Murray, chairman and chief executive of Murray Energy Corp., branded more than 20 major corporations that made up USCAP "un-American" for allying with environmental groups he calls "enemies of coal."

USCAP became the most influential coalition advocating federal greenhouse regulation in the U.S. Speaking to the USCAP CEOs in a hearing, Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., a member of the House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment (now Governor of the State of Washington), said, "It's a remarkable dynamic. It is not lost on members of Congress that you have this coalition that touches all points of the economy."

But in 2009, USCAP and its allies were outspent by opponents such as the American Petroleum Institute 7:1 in lobbying and 6:1 in campaign contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. By 2010, cap-and-trade legislation was dead. Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, said “The term itself became too polarizing and too paralyzing in the effort to win over conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans to try to do something about climate change and our oil dependency.”

"The go-to consulting company for green business”

In 2007, in Canada’s Globe and Mail, Semans discussed the impact of General Electric’s “ecomagination” clean technology initiative on investment by other corporations. Later that year, he joined GreenOrder, known for its work as the primary outside consultant to Jeff Immelt and his team at General Electric in developing ecomagination, which reached revenues of $100 billion in 2012.

Semans worked with companies strongly criticized by many environmentalists as the world’s worst polluters -- including GE, General Motors, Duke Energy, and Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC, the fourth largest chemicals company globally) – on investments to grow revenue from technologies and services that financially benefit customers and also improve environmental impact, such as plastics produced by SABIC used to improve fuel efficiency of GM’s Chevy Volt, the second best-selling car in the fast growing market for electric and hybrid-electric vehicles.

Scaling Sustainable Investment

In 2005, Semans began engaging Wall Street to design new institutional grade investment vehicles focused on climate solutions. In a September, 2005 New York Times article “Wall St. Develops the Tools to Invest in Climate Change,” Semans explained that the shift from traditional socially responsible investing toward climate-focus funds was due to the greater measurability of how climate factors impact companies, relative to social factors.

In 2009, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change published a report by Semans called “Innovating Through Alliance,” which analyzed drivers for returns from a joint venture investment by BP and DuPont in next generation biofuels, including butanol.

Later that year, he co-founded the U.S. Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance (US PREF) with Jeffrey R. Holzschuh of Morgan Stanley, Neil Auerbach of Hudson Clean Energy Partners, and Michael Eckhart of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE). Other founding member companies included Bank of America, Citi, and Google. US PREF “provide data and analysis, from the perspective of leading executives in the investment community, on how renewable energy finance policies affect the market” and facilitates investment in the renewable energy industry. In 2014, US PREF grew to include Blackrock, the largest asset manager in the world according to The Economist, and it continues to operate as a program of ACORE. US PREF members frequently testify before Congressional Committees on energy policy, and US PREF analytic papers informed Congress’ long-term extension of tax credits for solar and wind energy in November, 2016.

Scientific American interviewed Semans in 2010 for “Can the Green Economy Survive in a Policy Vacuum?” stating that “the green economy continues to show vitality, business leaders say, despite the near-total collapse of global climate talks, stalemate in Washington, D.C., and polls showing decreased urgency to tackle global warming.”

In 2011, Semans, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, and Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford delivered the keynote addresses at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. The event was the largest renewable energy conference ever convened, with 26,000 attendees from 137 Countries. Semans’ discussed the emerging age of radical transparency that increasingly reveals to investors the environmental risks and corporate environmental performance affecting every geography, market, company and asset class globally.

Semans founded investment advisory and analytics firm Element Capital Advisors in 2013 then co-founded financial technology company Intersect, building on prior work at Treasury, Pew, GreenOrder, and Element to develop software for analyzing climate-related factors and improving risk-adjusted returns in portfolio construction, asset allocation, and securities selection. In 2016, TechWire reported on Intersect as a “developing predictive software to help large asset holders and the firms that manage their money to generate higher returns from thematic investing while reducing climate change related risk and environmental impacts.” Techwire noted the “need for capital flows to address climate change globally is in the $400 billion to $600 billion a year range.”

Work with NGOs

Semans serves on the Board of Directors of the National Wildlife Federation and the American Farmland Trust, the Board of Visitors of the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment. Previously, he served on the Board of Directors of The Climate Trust.

External links

World Future Energy Summit keynote summary http://enb.iisd.org/download/pdf/sd/ymbvol187num2e.pdf

Appearance on C-SPAN https://www.c-span.org/video/?296222-3/clean-energy-incentives

Coverage in New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/24/business/24place.html

Coverage in Scientific American https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-green-economy-survive-policy-vacuum/

Coverage in National Geographic https://books.google.com/books?id=BRkLAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT91&lpg=PT91&dq=truman+semans+national+geographic+pew&source=bl&ots=nYzbJgnKXZ&sig=FRnRyzsLHopySkP_SOm25FvbRo0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjFtuT1rZjXAhUMNSYKHSXtDUcQ6AEILTAB#v=onepage&q=truman%20semans%20national%20geographic%20pew&f=false

Coverage in the Globe and Mail https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/so-you-want-to-bet-on-the-environment/article17996954/

GreenBiz publications

https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2009/04/27/endangerment-and-dangerous-regulation

https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2009/12/16/why-business-should-speak-one-voice-climate-policy

https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/03/17/fending-new-barbarians-culture-innovation

https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/11/16/competing-prize-part-prize

https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/07/05/how-to-succeed-energy-management-where-google-microsoft-failed

https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/09/21/how-fracking-can-become-force-environmental-good

https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2013/11/08/southern-exposure-startups-cherokee-mcdonough-challenge

Legislative testimony

http://www.climatechange.nc.gov/LCGCC_Final_Report_05-20-10.pdf