• describe, classify and critically discuss the concept of sustainability from a holistic perspective;
• explain the systemic nature of sustainability, drawing from earth, production and business interaction systems thinking;
• identify the interactions and links between different parts of these systems;
• account for the main approaches to examining sustainability, such as planetary boundaries, life cycle assessment, cradle-to-cradle, and the triple bottom line
• reflect upon the sources of risk, uncertainty and controversy in carrying out actions targeted at sustainability – from the points of view of business, government and civil society actors
• be able to identify various technological, scientific, business and political solutions to specific sustainability challenges and their interactions

Overview

Business, government and civil society are facing complex sustainability challenges that they cannot solve alone. These challenges have financial, managerial, political, social and environmental components, and tackling them often requires partnerships between the private and public sectors, or multi-stakeholder initiatives that also involve non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, venture capital and universities.

There is an increasing need, and demand for, managers and employees who have specialist skills, but who can also operate in multi-disciplinary teams. They need to have developed a common language and understanding with specialists in other fields so they can bridge the gaps between science, technology and business solutions to sustainability. Many scientific discoveries, technological developments or business innovations on sustainability fail because of the lack of understanding from each of these fields of the complex challenges that are involved. Business plans fail because of lack of understanding of their technological complexities; scientific breakthroughs are abandoned because they are miscommunicated to the public or the political system; technological innovations end up financially unfeasible.

This course seeks to fill this gap. It is taught by faculty members and includes students from CBS, KU and DTU (see details below). The aim is to provide a new generation of specialist professionals with the relevant skills to properly operate and communicate in multi-disciplinary teams that seek to tackle and find innovative solutions to the complex sustainability challenges society and business face. The course will consist of lectures from faculty in the three participant universities, group work, discussion, presentations and hands-on exercises; groups will include students from all 3 universities.

Format

• 33 contact hours organized in 11 blocks (3x45 min each) twice a week:
  • 1 block: joint introduction and overview
  • 9 blocks on specific topics (see below), delivered in rotation at the three participating universities
  • 1 block: joint conclusion and sum-up

Provisional programme

- Joint introduction

- Blocks 1-3: Earth system & planetary boundaries (@KU)

• Earth system and planetary boundaries: Overview
• Global assessments of nine planetary boundaries 1
• Global assessments of nine planetary boundaries 2

- Blocks 4-6: Production systems & system thinking (@DTU)

• Sustainability of products and systems: Introduction
• Frameworks for assessing sustainability of products and systems
• Societal challenges and environmental economics

- Blocks 7-9: Business interaction systems (@CBS)

• Business, sustainability decision-making and communication 
• Business strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship for sustainability
• Business-government-civil society interactions and sustainability governance

- Joint conclusion

This course is offered as an elective, but is one of two mandatory courses (Sustainability Challenges 1 and 2) for students wishing to obtain the CBS-KU-DTU ‘Joint Certificate in Sustainability: Science, Technology and Business’.

The joint certificate is assigned by a joint committee from the three participating universities and can be obtained in addition to a regular MSc degree. To obtain the certificate, students need to take and pass the two SC1 and SC2 courses.

For more info on this initiative, please see: http://cosiuni.weebly.com

CBS students:
CBS students not seeking to obtain the joint certificate can also take SC1 or SC2 as a self-standing electives.

Literature list: SC1

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• Bjørn, A., Hauschild, M.Z. (2013) Absolute versus Relative Environmental Sustainability. Journal of Industrial Ecology 17: 321-332.
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• Hanjra, M.A., and M.E. Qureshi (2010) Global water crisis and future food security in an era of climate change. Food Policy 35.5: 365-377
• Hauschild, M. (2005), Assessing environmental impacts in a life-cycle perspective. Environmental Science & Technology 39.4: 81A-88A
• Henriksen, L. and S. Ponte (2015) Public Orchestration, Social Networks and Transnational Environmental Governance: Lessons from the Aviation Industry. Under review.
• Hepburn, C. and A. Bowen (2013) Prosperity with growth. Economic growth, climate change and environmental limits. In Fouquet, R. (ed). Handbook of Energy and Climate Change, Edward Edgar.
• Hoegh-Guldberg, O., et al. (2007) Coral reefs under rapid climate change and ocean acidification. Science 318.5857: 1737-1742
• Hoekstra, A. Y. et al. (2011) The Water Footprint Assessment Manual - Setting the Global Standard. Earthscan: Washington, USA
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• Jackson, T. (2009) Prosperity without Growth. Earthscan.
• Jasanoff, S. (2010) A New Climate for Society, Theory, Culture and Society, 27.2-3: 233-253.
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• Lister, J., R.T. Poulsen and S. Ponte (2015) Orchestrating Transnational Environmental Governance in Maritime Shipping. Under review.
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• Searchinger, T., et al. (2008) Use of US croplands for biofuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land-use change. Science 319.5867: 1238-1240
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