• describe, classify and critically discuss challenges of sectoral, company, behavioral or societal sustainability transitions from a systemic holistic and cross-disciplinary perspective
• explain the systemic nature of sustainability transition challenges, drawing from different natural, technical and social science perspectives, bussiness in society interaction and systems thinking
• identify practices and interactions to link climate resilience and biodiversity action leveraging intervention with nature base solutions connecting these systems
• understand 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, opportunities and controversy and trade-offs in carrying out actions targeting sustainability – from the points of view of business, government, organized civil society and individual actors
• identify, compare and assess contributions from various technological, scientific, business and political solutions to specific sustainability challenges and their interactions

Climate change and Biodiversity loss are the most pressing environmental challenges for sustainability, impacting human health, socio-economic development and peace in human societies. Business, government and civil society are taking strong actions to face these complex sustainability challenges and it is certain that they cannot solve them alone. No single actor or discipline can resolve in isolation the complex nature of the needed solutions. Sustainability requires intensive and purposeful 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, innovators and employees who understand the risks and challenges and are prepared with sustainability specialist skills, and who can also operate in multi-disciplinary teams. They need to have developed and be prepared to interact in common terms 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 knowledge and 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 different 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  of the three participant universities, active group work, discussion, presentations and hands-on exercises; all group work requires interaction of students from all participant universities.

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 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 one of the courses as self-standing electives.

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