Sustainable Development, Business and Policy

GESTS2002 “Sustainable Development, Business and Policy” provides a multi-disciplinary introduction to sustainable development, starting from the state of the planet and the interactions between the planet and human societies, to the scientific and historical underpinnings of sustainable development and its implications for business and policy. Emphasis is placed on the central role of governance and organisations in the slowing or facilitation of action and innovation. 

The course is divided into 5 chapters: 

1. Welcome to the Anthropocene: an introduction to the state of the planet, and the way human (socio-) and natural (ecological systems interact with and depend on one another, with a focus on the agriculture sector, the energy sector, and climate change
2. Sustainable development: an introduction to the scientific and ethical foundations of sustainable development, the economic, political and psychological mechanisms that make sustainable development difficult to achieve, and the policy tools that can help foster greater sustainability
3. Decarbonisation and the energy transition: an introduction to measuring carbon footprints and the analytical frameworks for designing decarbonisation pathways
4. The circular economy: an introduction to the material flows underpinning our economies and the design of circular business models and supporting policies
5. The role of business in society, an invitation to the academic and business debates about the role of business in society and the development in business practices and ESG policies

The course combines lectures, pre-class assignments, class discussions and group projects. 

This course contributes to the Energy, Circular Economy, Human Development and Socially Sustainable Organisations pedagogical pathways of the Sustainable Development initiative that seek to provide an integrated training in sustainability.

Sustainable development issues are typically complex and multifaceted, and so are their solutions. At the same time, sustainability has become such a buzzword that firms and politicians are tempted to leverage it for marketing purposes, rather than to describe solutions that genuinely contribute to more sustainable operations and practices. Critical thinking is therefore paramount. Upon completion of the course, you should be able to: -

• Describe the scientific and ethical underpinnings of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility;

• Contextualize a sustainable development issue, and describe the stakeholders and the relevant links between this issue and other social, economic and environmental dimensions;

• Analyze a mechanism of governance and assess its impact on stakeholders’ incentives;

• Draw on relevant scientific and grey literature sources to critically assess a proposed solution (policy, strategy, product, …) from a sustainable development perspective.

The course combines standard lectures, pre-class readings and assignments, in-class interactive activities, guest speakers and a group project.

Contribution to the teaching profile

This course contributes, entirely (or partially), to the development of the following learning outcomes of the bachelor degrees in Business engineering:

• LO 1.1 Apply fundamental concepts, tools and models (in economics and management) to formulate a well-defined problem and propose a multidisciplinary solution.
• LO 1.2 Understand the scientific and technological principles (and their impact on managerial analysis).
• LO 1.3 Integrate sustainable development in analyses
  • Specifically, this course contributes to this objective by introducing students to (1) the scientific foundations of sustainable development, (2) systems thinking (concept and tools, application to analyses in class and in the group project), (3) the analysis of governance mechanisms and triggers for change and providing them with a first experience of group projects where they will be asked to integrate different perspectives and apply systems thinking to a specific sustainability-related problem.  
  • The course is part of the Sustainable Development initiative and provides an introduction to some of the issues that are developed in more depth in courses from the Energy, Circular Economy, Socially Sustainable Organisations and Human Development pathways of the BA Ingénieur de Gestion. 
• LO 2.1 Adopt a scientific approach to data collection, research and analysis and communicate results with clear, structured and sophisticated arguments.
• LO 2.2 Display critical thinking, logical and abstract reasoning and develop an independent approach to learning.
• LO 4.1 Work and communicate effectively as part of a team (in an international and multicultural environment).
• LO 4.2 Recognize ethical dilemmas (and contribute to solving them).

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References, bibliography, and recommended reading

The course relies on a set of readings (reader available at the PUB) and other pedagogical material available to registered students on the uv. 

Course notes

• Université virtuelle
• Syllabus

Contacts

Estelle Cantillon (Estelle.Cantillon@ulb.be) and Bertrand Collignon (Bertrand.Collignon@ulb.be)

Campus

Solbosch

Method(s) of evaluation

• Personal work
• Oral examination
• Oral presentation
• Group work
• Other

Personal work

Oral examination

• Examination with preparation

Oral presentation

Group work

Other

The final grade is based on pre-class assignments and participation, a written group project, a short online exam and, performance on an oral exam. 

Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)

The final grade is based on participation to pre-class assignments, a written group project and performance on an oral exam. The final grade is made of the pre-class assignments and participation (15%), the group project (25%), the online exam (10%) and the oral exam (60%).

Students failing in the first session (June), get a second chance to pass the course in August by taking a somewhat longer oral exam that will count for 80% of the final grade, The remaining 20% will come from their grades on their pre-class assignments and in-class participation (10%) and their group project (10%).

Language(s) of evaluation

• english