06220688 - Sustainability and international developments

Businesses today have a need and an obligation to consider their social and environmental responsibilities beyond profit maximization.
The links between economic growth, the finiteness of natural resources and their equitable sharing, including between generations, are central to the theories and practical examples presented. The interdependencies between ecological, social and economic dimensions are discussed to stimulate students' curiosity, for their personal knowledge and their future careers.
In particular, this course aims to improve students' understanding of climate change, and both individual and collective levers for mitigation and adaptation.

Estimation of private study (outside of contact hours):  10 hours


DIMENSION OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Corporate social responsibility of businesses is defined in the course, and the interdependence between economic growth, social inequality (including towards future generations) and environmental damages is at the heart of the issues discussed, with many concrete examples.


TARGETED KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

• Mastery of the main concepts and basic tools of environmental economics and ecological transition
• Knowledge of the key figures and orders of magnitude involved in the environmental transition

Target skills:

• Understanding their application to business by developing a critical analysis of how companies disclose their environmental objectives & achievements and manage the related risks.
• Understanding the concept of the depletion of natural resources, its consequences for businesses and, more broadly, for society as a whole.
• Understand the key issues and strategies of sustainable finance.

1. Climate change

• Understanding climate change and the individual & collective levers for mitigation and adaptation; definition of carbon footprint.
• Global carbon inequality.
• Dual carbon constraint: climate change and energy depletion; definition of oil & gas reserves, peak oil theory; Kaya’s identity.

2.Economics and ecology

• Externalities: definition, polluter pays principle, other tools for reducing externalities, common goods.
• Definition of natural capital and valuation of ecosystem services.
• Degrowth theory and link between GDP, energy and environmental damages; planetary boundaries and doughnut theory.

3. Sustainable development and Corporate Social Responsibility

• How companies relate to double materiality and report carbon footprint (scopes 1, 2, 3 & 4).
• What is sustainable development (17 SDGs) and how companies refer to SDGs in their annual reports; Triple bottom line; Corporate Social Responsibility.

4.  Sustainable finance

• Links with CSR
• Reporting for investors
• ESG strategies
• Focus on climate finance

 

PRESCRIBED TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS

Podcasts of US economist Nate Hagens, Director of The Institute for the Study of Energy & Our Future (ISEOF)
https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/animation/01-energy-blind
https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/animation/02-human-superorganism


IMF publication: What is Mitigation vs Adaptation? (by Adam Behsudi).
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2021/09/climate-change-what-is-mitigation-and-adaptation-behsudi-basics

Conference of UK economist Kate Raworth (senior associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute) (15 minutes – w. subtitles in French or English)
https://www.ted.com/talks/kate_raworth_a_healthy_economy_should_be_designed_to_thrive_not_grow?language=fr

Podcast by The Club of Rome : What was the message of Limits to Growth?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHGdjdcGWUA

Conference of Sandrine Dixson Declève : Building an earth for all: the role of systems science
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1DsZd5Ysyc


RECOMMENDED TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS

• IPCC assessment reports - Summary for policymakers
• World Economic Forum - Global Risks Perception Survey
• World without end – Blain & Jancovici

EMBLEMATIC BOOKS OR RESEARCH PAPERS REGARDING THE SUBJECT OF THE COURSE

a.  Limits to Growth (Donatella & Dennis Meadows)
b.  IPCC assessment reports
c.  Doughnut Economics (Kate Raworth)
d.  Governing the commons (Elinor Ostrom)
e.  The Population Bomb (Paul Ehrlich)
f.  Sans transition (Jean Baptiste Fressoz)
g.  Is green growth happening? (Jefim Vogel &Prof Jason Hickel - The Lancet, September 2023)
h.  Environment, Energy and Economy: strategies for sustainability (Yoichi Kaya & Keiichi Yokobori)
i.  Is Growth Obsolete? (William D. Nordhaus & James Tobin)
j.  Earth for All – A Survival Guide for Humanity (Sandrine Dixson-Decleve, Owen Gaffney, Jayati Ghosh)
k.  Climate Inequality Report 2023 (World inequality lab: Lucas Chancel, Philipp Bothe, Tancrède Voituriez)
l.  The economics of welfare (Arthur Cecil Pigou)
m.  Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity (Rockström, J., W. Steffen, K. Noone, Å. Persson)
n.  Are we on the cusp of collapse? (Graham Turner - Gaia: Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, June 2012).


TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS OF IAELYON FACULTY ON THE SUBJECT OF THE COURSE  

1. Capelle-Blancard, G., & Petit, A. (2017). The weighting of CSR dimensions: One size does not fit all. Business & Society, 56(6), 919-943
2. Capelle-Blancard, G., & Petit, A. (2019). Every little helps? ESG news and stock market reaction. Journal of Business Ethics, 157, 543-565.

Individual Grade
Assessment type: oral presentation
Length: 20 minutes
Nature of the assessment:
Thematic presentation by groups of 2 or 3 students, including critical analysis of academic references.  


Other grade(s)
Nature of assessment: active participation and its relevance during lessons.

Weight: 50% / 50%

NATURE OF MATERIALS

•   Serious game “the climate fresk©” (Set of 42 cards, played in groups of max 10 students)
•   Calculation of individual carbon footprint (on-line calculator)
•   Videos and podcasts
•   Powerpoints, Canvas
•   Academic and non-academic articles
•   Case studies

TEACHING INNOVATIONS AND USE OF TECHNOLOGY

The moodle platform for the deposit of the supports and a forum for interactions. Videos explaining real cases. Wooclap for quiz and tests.


PRE-REQUISITES IN TERMS OF KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
None