Sustainability Transition Management (Part-time)

The new sustainable transformation global agenda calls for a transdisciplinaryand interdisciplinaryanalysis of society’s complexityand crises. Environmental Economics gain hence a central role focusing on governingeconomicactivity while promoting sustainability, justice and well-being. Focusing on shared prosperity, human centered development and circular economy international leading agendas define the road forward. The United Nations 2030 Agenda andthe SDGs act as roadmapfor sustainability transition and globallocal andbusiness level. A call for all stakeholders, to collaborate and cooperate defining the necessary solutions to thepressing problems of Climate and Water Crisis, Inequalities, andSocial Justiceand contributefor a sustainable and resilientfuture. This course aimsat converging different agendas and systemic thinking surroundingecologicaleconomics and analyze the contribution toward the SDGs and Sustainable Development. Furthermore,aiming developing a critical thinking toward identified problems and solutions. With a focuson the centralrole ofentrepreneurshipand businesssectoras a driver of innovation and change.

Human-caused climate change is one of the most serious issue of our time and it portends
unprecedented environmental changes for our societies and future generations. Terms like “global
warming”, “climate change” or “greenhouse effect” are nowadays commonly used by non-specialists,
although this is often done without a clear understanding of the science behind them. Understanding
the science of human-caused climate change is essential to understand the economic, political and
moral dimension of it, and ultimately to tackle it. The objective of this course is to explain the basics of
the climate change science in a concise yet rigorous way, providing the scientific knowledge which
underlies all aspect of the human-induced climate change problem.

The course focuses on the geographies and geopolitics of climate and environmental change and the related socio-ecological and political challenges. It aims to provide an overview on the development of climate and environmental thought, politics and governance and it adopts geographical approaches to reflect on the key actors, processes and conflicts. These issue are analyzed at a global scale together with regional focus in the Global South especially in Central and Southeast Asia.

The purpose of this module is to increase awareness of the role and functioning of modern corporations as sustainability challenges, opportunities, and solutions emerge. My objective is to enhance our collective awareness of the multiplicity of issues associated with sustainability and explore what all of this means for firms. Towards this end, I have outlined three facets of sustainability – adapting to new demands, dealing with multiple stakeholders and creating a temporal horizon– that can serve as the basis for deepening your understanding of issues connected with sustainability.

Over the last decade sustainability, corporate social responsibility and stakeholder management practices have become paramount for companies as well as for the society at large. Although most companies have developed sustainability programs over the years, as they’re cutting carbon emissions, reducing waste, and otherwise enhancing operational efficiency, we are witnessing a mishmash of sustainability tactics that does not add up to a sustainable strategy. To endure, a sustainable strategy has to cope with the competing – and apparently divergent – interests of all stakeholders: investors, employees, customers, governments, NGOs, and society.

In this context corporate Performance Measurement Systems (PMS) play a key role as they help companies to formalize and implement their sustainable strategies as well as to proactively identify new trajectories that help companies to appropriately reconcile the trade-offs between different stakeholders’ wants and needs.

This course is premised on the notion that sustainability represents a fundamental paradox: at the current moment, sustainability presents itself as a goal that can only be achieved through a radical transformation of the ways that we relate to each other and the environment—sustainability is premised upon the unavoidability of transformation. The goal of this course is therefore not to import one or several ethical theories into the world of business and commerce in order to form moral judgments about business practices, or to train business leaders to be more efficient decision makers.  Our task is to identify and navigate ethical dilemmas that arise when we entertain sustainability as a guiding principle for our individual, organizational, and global actions.

The course will allow students to gain a solid and robust understanding of how institutional investors finance and invest in the renewable energy sector: how to assess the key commercial, legal, macro-economic and technological risks, what tools to use to mitigate them, and how to measure return on investment. Students will solve a real life business case where they will learn how to use a financial model that forecasts on a 20+ year horizon the profit & loss, balance sheet, cash-flow statement of a renewable energy company.

Overall aim of this course is to cover the most important aspects of value chain, including those aspects that concern interorganizational/supply chain or intraorganizational issues, e.g., sourcing and distribution, and to explain how sustainability-oriented innovation needs to be considered across all the aspects. Above all, instead of sustainability being treated separately, the intention in this course is that sustainability-oriented approach is considered in the context of each topic.

The ultimate purpose of the course is to explore the many dimensions of new venture creation & growth in independent as well corporate settings looking at both process and people involved in assessing ideas, exploiting opportunities, and converting concepts into green and sustainable businesses that can really add up to a global sustainable strategy. The candidates will develop a methodological toolkit to design, understand, and evaluate green business projects. The capstone project for this course will require you to work as a team of consultants offering advice to a real-world green start-ups, using the tools you have accumulated in the course.

The great social challenges of our time, incorporated into the 2030 agenda of the United Nations through the objectives of sustainable development and the crisis of modern capitalism based on maximum shareholder value, require a change of course in traditional business models and put the issue of corporate sustainability back at the centre. In this context, a new model of entrepreneurship is emerging where companies respond to social problems through new models, methods and products and services combining the objectives of economic and financial performance with the pursuit of a positive social impact. The module addresses the main concepts, approaches and practices to understand the main forms of social innovation and their impact on production and organisational processes and the effects on the reputation of enterprises.

Moving from linear to circular economy needs a complete rethinking of products, processes and supply chains. This transition calls for the adoption of an anticipatory approach based on which the life-span, the functions, and the generation of waste should be kept in mind in the design stage to identify and prevent potential impacts in each step of the value chain but also maximize, add and maintain value in the further loops. Despite the existence of waste management systems, materials are still a pervasive presence in the environment, with resulting social concerns. By reconnecting societal needs and environmental pressures with company value proposition, externalities can be reduced, and value can be shared. Circular economy is the way to embrace corporate responsibility: reuse, repair, refurbish, remanufacture and repurpose, over than recycling, are among the circular strategies that support organizations to address a socio-technical innovation and change the business models in a sustainable way.

The course “geohazard and sustainability” will focus on the importance of geohazard and risk management in sustainable development. The environmental factors controlling and promoting the occurrence of a variety of natural events (e.g., earthquakes, floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions, extreme climatic events) will be analyzed, and the impact of these events on the environment, society, and business will be discussed, also with the help of guest lecturers
from business, industry, and public institutions.
The objectives of the course are: i) to help the students understand the importance of identifying, assessing, and managing geohazards in pursuing the UN SDGs, ii) to provide the students with a basic background on the factors that control the occurrence of natural events and disasters, iii) to raise the attention to the potential effects that natural hazards may have on business and society, and iv) to highlight the long-term effects that human activity can have on the environment.

• Global energy scenario: production, demand and forecasts
• Circular economy and energy production (low enthalpy thermal waste recovery and waste management for energy purposes).
• Smart Energy Districts
• Hydrogen production and dispatch

This course addresses the challenges facing executives of modern business who need to deal with increasing community expectations for economic, societal and environmental sustainability of their organizations. Contemporary, economics-based models of firms and markets are used to analyze a wide range of strategic real-world scenarios. Students will learn how to identify and choose a superior competitive position, gain and sustain competitive advantage, and how to create an organizational context to make the chosen strategy work. They will also be exposed to analytic tools that help them in making strategic decisions. The single biggest concern of senior executives in global surveys year after year is that their business models are not innovative and therefore, noncompetitive. A related concern is that, absent an innovative model, their company can easily be disrupted. Academic studies have conclusively demonstrated that the highest return on innovation
investment is in the creation of innovative business models.