• describe, classify and critically discuss the concept of sustainability from a holistic cross-disciplinary perspective;
• explain the systemic nature of sustainability challenges, drawing from different natural, technical and social science perspectives, bussiness in society interaction and 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 and trade-offs in carrying out actions targeted at sustainability – from the points of view of business, government and civil society actors
• be able to identify and assess contributions from 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. No single discipline can shape in isolation the complex solutions needed. Sustainability requires interaction between disciplines and actors. A momentous global commitment was reached in 2015 with the adoption of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Paris Climate Agreement, with countries chosing to tackle major development challenges while working toward delivering a future where nature and people can trhive. These challenges have global and local, financial, managerial, political, social and environmental components. Tackling them require strong, trustworthy and longlasting partnerships between the private and public sectors, or multi-stakeholder initiatives involving non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, venture capital and universities.

There is an increasing need, and demand for, managers and employees who have sustainability specialist skills, and 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 specialist in different fields regarding the complex challenges that are involved. Business plans can fail because of lack of understanding of their technological complexities; scientific breakthroughs may be abandoned or rejected because clearer communication to the public or the political system is lacking; policy relevance may be unappreciated and technological innovations end up financially unfeasible.

This course builds interdisciplinary skills and seeks to strengthen students capabilities to work toward filling these gaps. It is taught by faculty members from CBS, KU and DTU (see details below) and is particularly suited to cultivate interaction between students from these three universities. 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, active group work, discussion, presentations and hands-on exercises; all group work requires interaction of students from all three 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 and sustainability (@CBS)

• Consumer behaviour and sustainability 
• Business strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship for sustainability
• Sustainability governance and business-government-civil society interactions

- Joint conclusion

​30 seats for CBS students and 30 seats for credit students

This course is the first one of the two mandatory courses for students wishing to obtain the COSI ‘Joint Certificate in Sustainability: Science, Technology and Business' (CBS/KU/DTU)

The certificate is assigned by a joint COSI committee from the three participating universities. To obtain the certificate, students need to pass the two Sustainability Challenges 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 self-standing electives.

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