About Me

Conor Hickey is a Climate Fellow at Harvard Business School.

I use principles from science and economics to understand how companies can achieve net zero emissions in a financially, enviromentally and socially sustainable way. I investigate three main areas: how economic regulations impact a firm's ability to transition to net zero; how a firm's financial characteristics enable or constrain this transition; and how firms can equate external measures like carbon offsets, particularly removals, with emissions reductions, considering Earth system impacts and governance issues.

Prior to my role at Harvard, I held positions as an Oxford Net Zero Fellow and Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. At Oxford, I led university-wide research that centered around business models and policies to support the transition to net zero.

Research Summary:

My earlier research examined if firms should invest in gas infrastructure as Europe moves to a low carbon economy. We found that without state support in most cases firms are likely to lose money as soon as 2030. Utilities should therefore aim to invest in other low-carbon sources of revenue. In the Journal of Corporate Finance article, we found that with timely action most utilities could achieve this transition to 100% green revenue by 2040 with minimal credit rating impacts. In addition to reducing emissions, to achieve net-zero firms might also need to invest in techniques to remove greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere.

I'm currently investigating if and how firms should invest in carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and how policy could best support it. I find that CDR is not only cost-effective for offsetting carbon dioxide but can also effectively compensate for challenging methane emissions. Moreover, firms can mitigate concerns about the lasting impact (over 1000 years) and risks of nature-based offsets by removing more carbon dioxide than they originally claimed.

Selected Research Articles:

Hickey, Conor, and Myles Allen. "Carbon Storage Portfolios for the Transition to Net Zero." Working Paper (2024)

Hickey, Conor, and Myles Allen. "Economics of Enhanced Methane Oxidation Relative to Carbon Dioxide Removal." Environmental Research Letters 19, no. 4043 (2024).

Hickey, Conor, Sam Fankhauser, Stephen Smith, and Myles Allen. "A Review of Commercialisation Mechanisms for Carbon Dioxide Removal." Frontiers in Climate 4, no. 258 (2023).

Tkachenko N, Tang K, McCarten M, and others. "Global Database of Cement Production Assets and Upstream Suppliers" Nature Scientific Data 10 (1) no. 696 (2023).

Hickey, Conor, John O'Brien, Ben Caldecott, Celine McInerney, and Brian O' Gallachoir. "Can European Electric Utilities Manage Asset Impairments Arising from Net Zero Targets?" Journal of Corporate Finance 70, no. 102075 (2021).

Caldecott, Ben, Alex Clark, Krister Koskelo, Ellie Mullholland and Conor Hickey. "Stranded Assets: Environmental Drivers, Societal Challenges, and Supervisory Responses." Annual Review of Environment and Resources 46 no. 417 (2021).

Hickey, Conor, Derek Bunn, Paul Deane, Celine McInerney, and Brian O' Gallachoir. "The Variation in Capacity Remuneration Requirements in European Electricity Markets." Energy Journal 42, no. 2 (2020).

Curtin, Joesph, Celine McInerney, Brian Ó Gallachóir, Conor Hickey, Paul Deane, Peter Deeney. "Quantifying stranding risk for fossil fuel assets and implications for renewable energy investment: A review of the literature." Renewable and Sustainable Strategy Reviews 116 (2019).

Hickey, Conor, Paul Deane, Celine McInerney, and Brian O' Gallachoir. "Is There a Future for the Gas Network in a Low Carbon Energy System?" Energy Policy 126 (2019).

Selected Projects:

Harvard University Climate Fellowship, Independent Research Grant (2023)

NEGEM Horizon 2020, Commercial Potential Work Package Leader, £400,000 (2021)

Smoothing the Transition Away from Coal in China, Co-Investigator, £270,000 (2020)

Climate Risk Analysis for Sembcorp (Temasek), Co-Investigator, £50,000 (2020)

Fossil Fuel Lock-In in Ireland – How much Value is at Risk, Project lead, €269,000 (2016)

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