| Learning objectives |
- discuss the key characteristics in transitions to low carbon
energy systems, waste, circular economy and recycling systems, and
biodiversity, food and agriculture systems; identify their
scientific, technological, business and regulatory components; and
examine their development and interconnectedness
- develop a system-level perspective that takes an integrative
approach towards the solution of complex problems within the three
broad sustainability challenge areas covered in the course;
- apply science, technology and business management approaches
and tools covered in the course in a ‘capstone project’ to examine
a specific and real-world ‘sustainability challenge’ within one of
the three broad areas covered in the course (waste, energy and
food);
- in the capstone project: present relevant facts and context of
the selected ‘sustainability challenge’; identify the key problems,
stakeholders and interactions; justify your choice of approaches
and relevant data;
- in the capstone project: use the chosen approaches to analyze
the sustainability challenge; assess existing or provide tentative
solutions that combine scientific, technological, business and
regulatory elements; critically reflect upon the approaches you
used; and provide suggestions for improving these approaches to
better fit the problem at hand.
|
| Examination |
|
Sustainability
Challenges 2: Specific Systems and Capstone
Project:
|
| Exam
ECTS |
7,5 |
| Examination form |
Oral exam based on written product
In order to participate in the oral exam, the written product
must be handed in before the oral exam; by the set deadline. The
grade is based on an overall assessment of the written product and
the individual oral performance. |
| Individual or group exam |
Oral group exam based on written group
product |
| Number of people in the group |
2-5 |
| Size of written product |
Max. 25 pages |
|
Definition of number of pages:
Groups of
2 students 10 pages max.
3 students 15 pages max
4 students 20 pages max
5 students 25 pages max
Note that the exam is a group exam. If you are not able to find a
group yourself, you have to address the course coordinator who will
place you in a group.
Students who wish to have an individual exam might be able to write
a term paper in the course. Please see the cand.merc. rules for
term papers for more information. |
| Assignment type |
Project |
| Duration |
Written product to be submitted on specified date and
time.
15 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade,
and informing plus explaining the grade |
| Grading scale |
7-point grading scale |
| Examiner(s) |
Internal examiner and second internal
examiner |
| Exam period |
Winter |
| Make-up exam/re-exam |
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Re-take exam is to be based on the
same report as the ordinary exam:
* if a student is absent from the oral exam due to documented
illness but has handed in the written group product she/he does not
have to submit a new product for the re-take.
* if a whole group fails the oral exam they must hand in a revised
product for the re-take.
* if one student in the group fails the oral exam the course
coordinator chooses whether the student will have the oral exam on
the basis of the same product or if he/she has to hand in a revised
product for the re- take.
|
Description of the exam
procedure
In the capstone project, students from the three
participating universities will work in groups to examine a
specific 'Sustainability challenge' in connection with one
of the three broad systems covered in the course (ex. circular
economy, energy transition; waste & recycling; biodiversity
and natural resources, food and
agriculture).
Mixed student groups for the capstone project will be formed at
the end Sustainability Challenges 1 course. Group participants will
be drawn randomly from the list of class participants, and groups
will include participants from all three universities. The
selection of the system assigned will also take place randomly
at that point.
In the report, they will be asked to present relevant
facts and context of the selected ‘sustainability challenge’;
identify the key problems, stakeholders and interactions; justify
the choice of approaches and relevant data; use the chosen
approaches to analyze the sustainability challenge; assessing
existing and/or suggesting when posible tentative solutions that
combine scientific, technological, business and regulatory
elements; critically reflecting upon the approaches used; and
providing suggestions for improving these approaches to better fit
the problem at hand. The report is due in early January
2021.
|
|
| Course content, structure and pedagogical
approach |
|
Business, government and civil society are facing complex
sustainability challenges that they cannot solve alone. 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 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 seeks to strengthen
student´s capabilities to work toward filling these gaps.
'Sustainability Challenges 2: Specific Systems and Capstone
Project' builds upon 'Sustainability Challenges 1'
to examine specific challenges and transitions taken
place within three broad systems: Low-carbon transitions in Energy;
Circular Economy, Waste & Recycling; Biodiversity
and Natural resources, Food and Agriculture. Lectures will be
combined with group work and a Capstone Project. In the Capstone
Porject groups of students will examine a specific
challenge (within one of the broad systemic challenges covered in
the course) and assess existing or provide tentative
solutions.
Sustainability Challenges 2 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.
Format
An introduction, 9 sessions of 3x45 min, and 2
sessions of 3x45 min for in-class group supervision for
the capstone project
Draft content
-
Session 1: Introduction
-
Sessions 2-4: Transition to Low Carbon Energy systems
- Energy demand & decarbonization; the size of the challenge;
global and Danish perspectives (@KU)
- Technological solutions and system thinking for alternative
energy and energy optimisation (@DTU)
- Business and the governance of carbon emissions: global,
transnational, national and local solutions (@CBS)
-
Sessions 5-7: Circular Economy in Waste and recycling
systems
- Waste and infrastructure recycling (@KU)
- Recycling and reuse: a circular economy approach (@DTU)
- Waste as a valuable resource: business models,
innovation & entrepreneurship (@CBS)
-
Sessions 8-10: Biodiversity, Natural resources, food and
agriculture systems
- Sustainable food systems and Biodiversity (@KU)
- Sustainability assessment of natural resource use (@DTU)
- Market approaches to the sustainability of natural resources:
standards, labels and certifications (@CBS)
-
Sessions 11-12: in-class supervision on Capstone
Project
30 seats for CBS students and 30 seats for credit
students
|
| Description of the teaching methods |
• lectures, group work and simulation exercises
• group work on capstone project |
| Feedback during the teaching period |
| Group feedback |
| Student workload |
| lectures and group work in class |
30 hours |
| in-class project supervision |
6 hours |
| class preparation and capstone project work |
170 hours |
|
| Further Information |
|
This course is the second mandatory course 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 not seeking to obtain the joint certificate
can also take SC1 or SC2 as self-standing
electives.
|
| Expected literature |
|
Preliminary literature list:
- Andersen, AH (2012) Organic food and the plural moralities of
food provisioning. Journal of Rural Studies 27:
440-450
- Auld, G. (2014) Confronting Trade-Offs and Interactive Effects
in the Choice of Policy Focus: Specialized versus Comprehensive
Private Governance. Regulation and Governance 8.1:
126-48.
- Bjørn, A., Hauschild, M.Z. (2013) Absolute versus Relative
Environmental Sustainability. Journal of Industrial
Ecology 17, 321-332
- Bocken, N.M.P.; Short, S.W.; Rana, P.; Evans, S. (2014) A
literature and practice review to develop sustainable business
model archetypes, Journal of Cleaner Production, 65:
42-56.
- Boons, F. and Lüdeke-Freund, F. (2013) Business models for
sustainable innovation: state-of-the-art and steps towards a
research agenda, Journal of Cleaner Production,
45:9–19.
- Bulkeley , H., Newell, P. (2015) Governing Climate
Change. Routledge. Chapters 1 and 3.
- Bulkeley, H. et al. (2013) Climate justice and global cities:
mapping the emerging discourses. Global Environmental
Change 23.5: 914-925.
- Chum, H. et al. 2014. Energy Systems. Chapter 7. In Climate
Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. IPCC. Cambridge
University
Press.
https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg3/ipcc_wg3_ar5_full.pdf
- Creutzig, F., E. Corbera, S. Bolwig and C. Hunsberger C. (2013)
Integrating Place-Specific Livelihood and Equity Outcomes into
Global Assessments of Bioenergy Deployment. Environmental
Research Letters 8.3: 035047
- Darnhofer et al (2010) Conventionalisation of Organic Farming
Practices: From Structural Criteria Towards an Assessment Based on
Organic Principles. Sustainable Agriculture 2.3:
331-349
- Dovers, S.R., and J.W. Handmer (1992) Uncertainty,
sustainability and change. Global Environmental Change
2.4: 262-276.
- Dryzek, J.S., and H. Stevenson (2011) Global democracy and
earth system governance. Ecological economics 70.11:
1865-1874.
- Ellen McArthur Foundation (2012) Towards the Circular Economy.
UK
- European Commission (2015) Web site: Moving towards a circular
economy
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/index_en.htm
- Fleurbaey, M, Kartha, S, Bolwig, et al. (2014) Sustainable
Development and Equity. Chapter 4, Sect. 4.2.2 and Sect. 4.6. In
Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. IPCC. Cambridge
University Press.
- Gregg, J. (2015) Future Diet Scenarios and Their Effect on
Regional and Global Biofuel Potential. Article under review.
- Hatanaka, M., Bain, C., Busch, L. (2005) Third-party
certification in the global agrifood system. Food Policy
30: 354–369.
- Holloway L et al. (2007) Possible Food Economics: a
Methodological Framework for Exploring Food Production–Consumption
Relationships. Sociologia Ruralis 47.1: 1-19.
- Hvass, K.K. (2014), Post-retail responsibility of garments – a
fashion industry perspective, Journal of Fashion Marketing
& Management 18.4: 413-430.
- IPCC AR5 Summary Report for Policy Makers
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/AR5_SYR_FINAL_SPM.pdf;
- McDonough, William, and Michael Braungart (2010) Cradle to
cradle: Remaking the way we make things. MacMillan.
- OECD/IEA. Nordic Energy Technology Perspectives.
2013.
http://www.nordicenergy.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Nordic-Energy-Technology-Perspectives.pdf
- Parajuli et al. (2015) Biorefining in the prevailing energy and
materials crisis: a review of sustainable pathways for biorefinery
value chains and sustainability assessment
methodologies, Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews, 43: 244-263
- Richardson et al. 2011 Denmark’s Roadmap for Fossil fuel
Independence
http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/954
- Smith, P. et al. (2014) Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land
Use (AFOLU). Chapter 11 in Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of
Climate Change. IPPC and Cambridge University Press, pp.
811-922.
https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg3/ipcc_wg3_ar5_full.pdf
- STREAM materials (more info forthcoming)
- What a Waste,
https://www.wdronline.worldbank.org/handle/10986/17388 pages
1-33
- Zaman, G., and Z. Goschin (2010) Multidisciplinarity,
interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity: Theoretical approaches
and implications for the strategy of post-crisis sustainable
development. Theoretical and Applied Economics 12.12:
5-20.
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