Doug Cogan heads climate change research for RiskMetrics Group’s Financial Research and Analysis unit. He is the author of several books on environmental and energy topics, and a frequent speaker on corporate social responsibility issues.

Cogan’s 1992 book, The Greenhouse Gambit: Business and Investment Responses to Climate Change, was one of the first to examine the investment implications of global warming for major industries. In 2003, he wrote Corporate Governance and Climate Change: Making the Connection. Commissioned by Ceres, this report used a 14-point checklist to evaluate how some of the world’s biggest carbon-emitting companies are factoring climate change in their business strategies and governance practices. The Investor Network on Climate Risk commissioned an update of this report—examining 100 companies—that was released in March 2006.

In 2004, Cogan wrote an Investor Guide to Climate Risk: Action Plan and Resource for Plan Sponsors, Fund Managers and Corporations. He has also testified before Congress to provide an investor perspective on climate change and clean air legislation.

Cogan has written extensively on fiduciary issues related to social investing and shareholder activism. In 2000, he edited Tobacco Divestment and Fiduciary Responsibility: A Financial and Legal Analysis, commissioned by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This report examined legal and fiduciary issues raised by fund trustees who seek to align investment practices with their institutional missions. In 2004, he wrote Unexamined Risk: How Mutual Funds Vote on Global Warming Shareholder Resolutions. This report addressed mutual fund proxy voting practices on social and environmental issues. An update of this report was published in January 2006.

Prior to RiskMetrics Group, Cogan was apart of the Social Issues Service team at Investor Responsibility Research Center, and helped establish its Environmental Information Service in 1988.

Cogan is a graduate of Williams College. He graduated cum laude and received highest honors in political economics.