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2019/2020 KAN-CCMVI2093U Circular Economies: Towards a Global Shift?
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| Circular Economies: Towards a Global Shift? |
Course information |
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| Language | English |
| Course ECTS | 7.5 ECTS |
| Type | Elective |
| Level | Full Degree Master |
| Duration | Summer |
| Start time of the course | Summer |
| Timetable | Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk |
| Max. participants | 60 |
| Study board |
Study Board for MSc in Economics and Business
Administration
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| For academic
questions related to the course, please contact instructor Martin
Skrydstrup at msk.msc@cbs.dk
Other academic quesitons: contact academic director Sven Bislev at sb.msc@cbs.dk |
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| Last updated on 12/11/2019 | |
Relevant links |
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To achieve the grade 12, students should meet the
following learning objectives with no or only minor mistakes or
errors:
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In the linear economy, businesses extract materials, use them
to manufacture products and then sell those to consumers, who most
often dump these, when they no longer serve their purpose. Such a
linear economy extracts resources at increasing rates – currently
humanity uses resources that would require 1,5 Planet Earths to
keep up each year – without consideration of the environment in
which it operates. Of late, a new geological term has emerged to
describe the environmental consequences of the linear economy: The
Anthropocene. This term implies that in our time, humanity is the
decisive factor in shaping the natural environment. A critical
component of the Anthropocene is our current patterns of production
and consumption, i.e. the Take-Make-Waste approach of the linear
economy. Most agree that this cannot continue indefinitely and that
business as usual is not an option any longer.
The concept of the circular economy promises a way out. Here
products do not become waste. The circular economy promises to keep
products and goods at their highest utility and value at all times
and is restorative and regenerative by design. Services and goods
are distributed and shared in new and innovative ways without
compromising the functioning of the biosphere. The common point of
departure for the many ideas clustered under the rubric of
“circular economy” is to change the linear economy of
“Take-Make-Waste”. The rationale is to lower resource use and waste
and build smarter governance of natural capital. The key notion of
circular economy builds on the idea of cycles in nature fueled by
solar energy, where nothing is wasted and stuff circulates in
loops.
Preliminary assignment:
Preliminary assignment: To jumpstart the class, pls identify a
case of circular economy that you are familiar with (e.g. a new
business, a governmental policy, civil society innovation, etc).
Prepare 2 slides to introduce what this circular economy idea is
about (who is advancing it, since when and aiming at which goals?)
and discuss how this particular case is/is not addressing Goal 12
of the SDGs. Come prepared to present your reflections in the first
class.
Class 1:Introduction We will discuss the linear economy, path-dependencies and lock-ins; general analytics of transformations to sustainability. Class 2:Principles of Circular Economies
We will investigate biomimicry, the sharing economy, cradle-to-cradle, and the roots/genealogies and conceptual frameworks of circular economies. Class 3: What is a "live case"? Methodology
workshop
Class 4: Kick-off meeting: Live case presentations
Class 5: Business Models of and for Circular Economies
How can businesses create value by reusing/recycling? How can industrial designers provide smarter solutions? Offering products as “service” rather than selling products and transferring ownership to consumers, is one of many business models, which we will explore further. We shall also survey the legal and regulatory frameworks, which circular business models often challenge. Class 6: Measurements and Metrics
How do we measure circularity? How do we know what the carbon foot print or environmental impact of any given product or service is? We will review Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and other metrics to assess environmental impacts of production and consumption. Feedback activity:All live case projects are based upon a research question crafted by the students individually, and must be handed in to the course instructor for his/her approval. The instructor must approve the research question. The approval is a feedback to the student about the instructor's assessment of the problem's relevance and the possibilities of conducting a live case. Class 7: Live case group project supervision
Class 8: Global Supply Chains and Circular Economies
We will review the case for proximity and appropriate scale in the design of production-trade-consumption-networks. Case studies may include biofuels from the production of palm oil in Indonesia & Malaysia and the recent EU import ban on biofuels and/or Coltan mining in Congo and the manufacture of mobile phones. Class 9:Transitions to Circular Economies We will assess how the European Environmental Agency (EEA) understands transitions and what they perceive as barriers and obstacles to circular economies. Class 10: Practice Reflections: What are the challenges of
transition?
Class 11: LIVE CASE - Feedback session to live case companies
(see separate schedule!)
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| Description of the teaching methods | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| All teaching takes place on campus (notice that face-to-face teaching may include the use of online materials and tools. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Feedback during the teaching period | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| We shall arrange a session, where students
present 3 slides and receive feed-back from peers working on
related topics.
Home Project Assignments/mini projects are based on a research question (problem formulation) formulated by the students individually. Approval deadline will be defined by the instructor. Hand-in of the problem formulation directly to the instructor by the 3rd teaching week. |
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Preliminary Assignment: To help students get maximum value
from ISUP courses, instructors provide a reading or a small number
of readings or video clips to be read or viewed before the start of
classes with a related task scheduled for class 1 in order to
'jump-start' the learning process.
Course timetable is available on
https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams
We reserve the right to cancel the course if we do not get
enough applications. This will be communicated on
https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams
end March 2020.
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Mandatory readings:
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
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Last updated on
12/11/2019