Our annual survey of ideas and trends that will make an impact on business: Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Tyagi believe consumer credit should be made as safe as any other product. Paul Collier and Jean-Louis Warnholz reveal an increasingly investment-friendly climate in sub-Saharan Africa. Amy J.C. Cuddy asserts that warmth and competence are not mutually exclusive. John Sviokla predicts a surge of peer-to-peer lending in the wake of the financial crisis. Noah J. Goldstein explains the impact of social pressure on customers' behavior. Raymond Fisman urges the creation of a global forensic economics lab modeled on Interpol. Paul Saffo warns of a brain drain out of the U.S. Gurdeep Singh Pall and Rita Gunther McGrath contemplate the ramifications of immortalizing business meetings in searchable, high-quality digital video. Janine M. Benyus and Gunter A.M. Pauli illustrate the advantages of innovation copied from nature. Michael I. Norton observes that an investment of effort can lead to unduly glorifying its results. Peter Schwartz dispels the illusion that global temperatures are actually falling. Nicholas A. Christakis shows that personal influence wanes beyond three degrees of separation. Marcelo Suarez-Orozco sees the migrant millions as untapped brand emissaries to their relatives back home. Ian Bremmer and Juan Pujadas chart the growing influence of state capitalism in four industry sectors. Steve Jurvetson shares a fun way to stimulate the growth of new brain cells. Lew McCreary spotlights the interior designs of two adventurous architects who aim to counteract the degenerative effects of physical comfort. Tom Ilube explains the semantic web - a quiet revolution in technology that will radically change the internet. Alex Pentland weighs the benefits of combining two distinct kinds of social networking. Thomas H. Davenport and Bala Iyer look at the offshore outsourcing of decision making. R. Stanley Williams envisions a central nervous system for the earth.

Climate change will affect everything businesses do, as government efforts to mitigate carbon emissions cause their prices to rise steeply. This special edition of Forethought takes a hard-nosed look at the risks and opportunities of climate change. Michael E. Porter and Forest L. Reinhardt argue that the effects of climate change on companies' operations are now so tangible and certain that the issue is best addressed with the tools of the strategist, not the philanthropist. Reinhardt also posits, in another article, that success in a carbon-constrained world will be determined by innovation and acumen, requiring companies to make bold moves. Peter Schwartz explains that firms that do business in vulnerable regions can advance their interests if they help those areas adapt to global warming. Daniel C. Esty notes increasing pressure on corporations to reduce emissions, predicting that companies that fail to do so will face grave consequences. Andrew J. Hoffman says that corporations need to know what regulatory issues are at stake--and where. Alyson Slater of Global Reporting Initiative discusses the challenges and benefits of voluntary disclosure. Auden Schendler cautions companies buying up renewable energy certificates that they could end up tarnishing their green credentials. Theodore Roosevelt IV and John Llewellyn explain that virtually any firm in any sector can reap the benefits of investors' surging demand for green business ideas. Vicki Bakhshi and Alexis Krajeski show how climate change will affect businesses in the midterm. Maria Emilia Correa describes a key plank of the strategy at Masisa, a company in Chile, that is engaging B2B customers in efforts to become greener. Mark Way and Britta Rendlen explain why insurer Swiss Re is persuading employees to reduce their carbon footprints. HBR also provides a forecast of the extreme climate phenomena likely to occur in the future, and their expected repercussions on industry, agriculture, and settlements.