SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT

This course will begin by clearly defining what sustainability management is and determining if a sustainable economy is actually feasible. Students will learn to connect environmental protection to organizational management by exploring the technical, financial, managerial, and political challenges of effectively managing a sustainable environment and economy. This course is taught in a case-based format and will seek to help students learn the basics of management, environmental policy and sustainability economics. Sustainability management matters because we only have one planet, and we must learn how to manage our organizations in a way that ensures that the health of our planet can be maintained and bettered. This course is designed to introduce students to the field of sustainability management. It is not an academic course that reviews the literature of the field and discusses how scholars thing about the management of organizations that are environmentally sound. It is a practical course organized around the core concepts of sustainability.

• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Howard N Apsan
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

SUSTAINABLE CITIES

This course prepares students to understand, analyze, and develop policies and procedures to address sustainability issues faced by urban centers in the developed and developing world, their decision-makers, and inhabitants. Enrolled students are assumed to have had no previous in-depth exposure to sustainable urban development and urban planning. By the end of the course, students will have learned the following skills necessary to develop strategies and related actions to enhance sustainability of cities: identify and support good practices in green and efficient urban development and planning; develop policies and foster technologies used to promote energy efficiency and reduced GHG emissions from buildings and transportation; develop policies and foster technologies necessary to ensure access to clean water; develop policies and foster technologies necessary for the effective collection, disposal, and possible re-use of waste; create approaches to climate change adaptation measures undertaken by cities; develop, track, and analyze sustainability metrics and indicators for urban centers. This course can also be counted toward Area 1: Integrative Sustainability Management.

• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Dong Guo
  Info
• 3 points

WATER RESOURCES AND CLIMATE

This course will cover the science needed to understand hydrology, the link between hydrology and climate, and why climate change will affect the hydrologic cycle. It will then look at what changes have occurred in the past, and what changes are projected for the future and how these changes may affect other sectors, such as agriculture. The final module of the course will look at adaptation measures to adapt to climate change. The course will be formatted to be a mixture of lectures and seminars, with the lecture portion used to introduce scientific concepts and the seminar portion to discuss and evaluate the readings assigned. At the end of this course, students will the hydrologic cycle and its connection to climate, how changes in climate have affected/will affect how much water is available on land, how water impacts ecosystem services, and how to diagnose the cause of a climate-related water problem and develop solutions to address it.

• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• 3 points

ECONOMICS OF SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT

ECON OF SUSTAINABILITY MG

This course builds on core economics courses and addresses issues of environmental, resource and sustainable economics. It focuses on the interaction between markets and the environment; policy issues related to optimal extraction and pricing; property rights in industrial and developing countries and how they affect international trade in goods such as timber, wood pulp, and oil. An important goal of the class is to have students work in groups to apply economic concepts to current public policy issues having to do with urban environmental and earth systems. The use of the worlds water bodies and the atmosphere as economic inputs to production are also examined. The economics of renewable resources is described and sustainable economic development models are discussed and analyzed. Some time will also be devoted to international trade and regulation, and industrial organization issues. Students not only learn economic concepts, but they will also learn how to explain them to decision-makers. The instructor will tailor this course to the skill level of the students in order to most effectively suit the needs of the class.

• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Alexander Heil
  Info
• 3 points

SCIENCE OF URBAN ECOLOGY

Urban ecology is the study of both the interactions between organisms in an urban environment and the organisms' interactions with that environment. This course facilitates learning about 1) basic principles related to ecological interactions of life on Earth, 2) the causes and consequences of biological patterns and processes in urban environments, and 3) how ecology can inform land use decisions and applied management strategies of natural resources (e.g. water, air, biodiversity), particularly in urban environments. This course aims to provide students with an understanding of the ways in which ecological perspectives can contribute to an interdisciplinary approach to solving environmental problems facing human society. Towards that end, this course covers topics ranging from applied ecology and conservation biology to sustainable development. It uses a cross disciplinary approach to understand the nature of ecology and biological conservation, as well as the social, philosophical and economic dimensions of land use strategies. Although in some ways cities may seem to be isolated from what we would otherwise call "nature," they are not, and this is a major theme of this course. This course includes discussion of biodiversity, ecosystem function, evolutionary processes, nutrient cycling, and natural resource availability in cities. Students will acquire an understanding of the ecology of human-dominated landscapes, the theory and study of urban ecology, and the application of ecological principles to building sustainable urban communities. Students will also explore timely and important urban ecology issues including ecological restoration, invasive species, and biodiversity conservation.

• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Amy Karpati
  Info
• 3 points

Reversing the Biodiversity Crisis

Course Overview

Often described as “twin crises,” climate change and biodiversity loss are among the most urgent sustainability challenges to be addressed in our modern era. While much focus has rightfully been placed on climate change mitigation actions at local, regional, and global scales, biodiversity loss is less often addressed by governments, institutions, industries, and individuals as a critical piece of the sustainability puzzle. In 2021, COP 15, the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, received far less media attention than COP 26, the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change. Yet climate change and biodiversity loss are inextricably linked, and without biodiversity and the associated ecosystem services and biospheric resilience upon which human society relies, a sustainable world is not possible. Moreover, certain climate change mitigation actions can actually be to the detriment of biological diversity.

 

Unlike a traditional conservation biology course geared towards ecologists and biologists, this course will be taught through the lens of sustainability management, equipping sustainability managers with the knowledge and direction needed to begin integrating biodiversity conservation and restoration into their professions. This course will illuminate the critical importance of biodiversity to sustainability and human well-being, the science and politics behind the current biodiversity crisis, and proposals, policies, and actions for bending the curve of biodiversity loss to create more sustainable and equitable outcomes for both humans and the non-humans with which we share our planet.

 

Students who seek to deepen their understanding of ecological sustainability and address the biodiversity crisis through the lens of sustainability management are encouraged to take this course. This course is an on-campus (or Hy-Flex) elective offered during the Fall semester and fulfills 3 credits within the Physical Dimensions of Sustainability Management curriculum area in the Master of Science in Sustainability Management program. Cross-registration is available to students outside of the Master of Science in Sustainability Management program, space permitting.

• M 8:10 p.m.-10 p.m.
• Instructor: Amy Karpati
  Info
• 3 points

Biodiversity, Climate Change and Sustain

Biodiversity, a term popularized in the 1980s, refers to the variety of life at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. It is crucial for sustainability, as it supports ecosystems that underpin human life, economic activities, and ecological stability. The loss of biodiversity threatens essential ecosystem services like clean air, water filtration, climate regulation, and food security. This course explores how climate change, both current and projected, impacts biodiversity and how natural ecosystems influence greenhouse gas concentrations. Human survival depends on these ecosystems, yet there is uncertainty about how much biodiversity loss can be tolerated. Climate change now poses as serious a threat to biodiversity as direct development activities. Understanding the science behind these threats is essential for sustainability students, and this course aims to provide that knowledge.

Simultaneously, tropical deforestation across the globe produces CO2 emissions equal to the total current emissions of the United States.  Forest fires in Canada have produced emissions equal to the total fossil fuel based emissions of that country.  Thawing of permafrost in the arctic north is one of the positive feedback loops, warming leading to more warming that has catastrophic potential. In studying biodiversity, we will examine ecosystems and species such as muskoxen, whales, penguins, primates, tree frogs, and monarch butterflies. We will also explore human practices like agriculture, forest management, hunting, and fishing, which affect both carbon and biodiversity and rely on climate stability. Students will learn how climate and natural ecosystems interact, a crucial first step toward actions needed to sustain life on Earth. While some readings may be challenging for those without an ecology background, support will be available. Students with prior ecology knowledge should find the course particularly informative.

• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Ralph C Schmidt
  Info
• 3 points

PRAC-INNOVATV SUSTAIN LEADRSHP

This course deals with a fundamental question of sustainability management: how to change organizations and more complex systems, such as communities, industries, and markets, by integrating sustainability concerns in the way that they operate. The course poses this question to a dozen leading sustainability practitioners, who answer it by discussing management strategies that they use in their own work. Through these guest lectures, extensive class discussion, readings, and writing assignments, students identify and simulate applying practical ways for transforming how organizations and complex systems work. The practitioners, who work in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors and in a wide variety of organizations, make presentations in the first hour of the course. Students then have time to ask questions and speak informally with the guest practitioners, and will participate in an instructor-led class discussion, geared toward identifying management strategies, better understanding their application, and considering their effectiveness. By the end of the course, the students gain an understanding of management tools and strategies that they, themselves, would use to integrate sustainability in organizations.

The course complements the M.S. in Sustainability Management program’s required course, Sustainability Management (SUMA K4100). In that course, students study management and organization theory. In the Practicum, students learn directly from leading practitioners, who confront sustainability management issues daily.

• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• 1-3 points

WOMEN IN CITIES: SUST URB DSGN,PLNG,MGMT

The course will examine both acknowledged indicators of women’s and girls’ inclusion in the conceptualization and life of a city (e.g., access to shelter, clean water, sanitation, safe transport, healthcare, education, jobs and leadership positions), and those not sufficiently acknowledged (stability and tenure in housing, labor force inclusion and wage parity, physical, mental and environmental health, sexual and reproductive rights, freedom from violence, assured levels of participation in policy- and decision-making, etc.). Migrating between multiple cultural and sociopolitical contexts, and between the individual and metropolitan, national and indigenous levels of policymaking, the course will look at how today’s cities have evolved; the consequential disconnect between enshrined legal frameworks, regulatory and administrative structures, and concrete urban realities; and at how, through a sustainable process of inclusive community and private sector engagement, responsive design, and strategic budgeting to realize select well-defined priorities, tomorrow’s cities can be better attuned to the human scale of their primary constituents by becoming more aware, inclusive, accommodating and enabling of women and families. Each week, one or more leading and cutting-edge thinkers and practitioners in the areas of urban and environmental design and management, corporate social responsibility, landscape architecture and planning, sustainable engineering, and urban health,  wellbeing and women’s rights will share their experience, current thinking and ideas in featured guest lectures; these will be followed by wide-ranging conversations among the instructor, lecturers and students, enabling students to hear firsthand how private, public and non-profit sector managers, policymakers and designers approach and deal with such issues as (for instance) making transport hubs equally navigable for women with strollers, walkers or young children, or implementing green or family-friendly CSR policies.

• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Susan M Blaustein
  CULPA: 1 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS

This course is about cost-benefit analysis and the economic evaluations of policies and projects. Cost benefit analysis (CBA) consists of a comprehensive set of techniques used to evaluate government programs. It is now routinely applied in such program areas as transportation, water projects, health, training and education, criminal justice, environmental protection, urban policy and even in the international arena such as foreign direct investment. Many of the techniques of CBA can also be applied to private sector decision-making. The objective of CBA is to determine whether the benefits of a particular program, policy or decision outweigh its costs. The techniques used to determine this are sometimes quite simple, but on other, increasingly frequent occasions are highly sophisticated. Sophisticated cost benefit studies are based on a framework that utilizes the basic concepts of economic theory. In addition, statistical and econometric analyses are often needed to estimate program effects from diverse available data. The course has two parts: methodology and practice. The goal is for students to be practically adept to undertake an independent cost-benefit analysis.

• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Anyi Wang
  Info
• Instructor: Amin Mohseni-Cheraghlou
  Info
• 3 points

THEORY & PRACTICE OF LIFE CYCLE ASSESSME

THEORY & PRAC OF LIFE CYC

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), a methodology to assess the environmental impact of products, services, and industrial processes is an increasingly important tool in corporate sustainability management. This course teaches both the theoretical framework as well as step-by-step practical guidelines of conducting LCAs in companies and organizations. Particular emphasis is placed on separating the more academic, but less practically relevant aspects of LCA (which will receive less focus) from the actual practical challenges of LCA (which will be covered in detail, including case studies). The course also covers the application of LCA metrics in a companies’ management and discusses the methodological weaknesses that make such application difficult, including how these can be overcome. Product carbon footprinting (as one form of LCA) receives particular focus, owing to its widespread practical use in recent and future sustainability management.

• R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Christoph J Meinrenken
  h-index: 15 Info
• Instructor: Adriana B Kliegman
  Info
• Instructor: Kim Matsoukas
  Info
• 3 points

CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING AND S

CORP SUST REPORTING & STR

The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of trends and best practices in corporate communications relating to sustainability, with a particular focus on global sustainability reporting frameworks and green marketing communications. It is designed for those who hold/will hold positions in organizations with responsibilities for communicating the sustainability goals, challenges and achievements, as well as accurately and honestly communicating the environmental aspects of an organization's products and services. Increasingly, large corporations are creating c-suite roles or dedicated departments to oversee this function. More typically, multiple functions contribute information such as: Corporate Communications, Marketing, Community Affairs, Public Policy, Environmental Health & Safety, R&D, Facilities, Operations and Legal. Benefits of reporting range from building trust with stakeholders, and uncovering risks and opportunities; to contributing to stronger long-term business strategy, and creating new products and services.

• R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Celine S Ruben-Salama
  Info
• Instructor: Carl A Otto
  Info
• 3 points

DECISION MODELS & MANAGEMENT

This course provides an introduction to computer-based models for decision-making.  The emphasis is on models that are widely used in diverse industries and functional areas, including finance, accounting, operations, and marketing.  Applications will include advertising planning, revenue management, asset-liability management, environmental policy modeling, portfolio optimization, and corporate risk management, among others. The applicability and usage of computer-based models have increased dramatically in recent years, due to the extraordinary improvements in computer, information and communication technologies, including not just hardware but also model-solution techniques and user interfaces.  Twenty years ago working with a model meant using an expensive mainframe computer, learning a complex programming language, and struggling to compile data by hand; the entire process was clearly marked “experts only.”  The rise of personal computers, friendly interfaces (such as spreadsheets), and large databases has made modeling far more accessible to managers.  Information has come to be recognized as a critical resource, and models play a key role in deploying this resource, in organizing and structuring information so that it can be used productively.

• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Lucius J Riccio
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 3 points

GHG EMISSIONS: MEASURING AND MINIMIZING

GHG EMISSIONS CARBON FOOT

Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are now at a record high, and the world’s scientific community agrees that continued unabated release of greenhouse gases will have catastrophic consequences. Many efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, both public and private, have been underway for decades, yet it is now clear that collectively these efforts are failing, and that far more concerted efforts are necessary. In December 2015, the world’s nations agreed in Paris to take actions to limit the future increase in global temperatures well below to 2°C, while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5°C. Achieving this goal will require mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors, both public and private. Critical to any attempt to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions is a clear, accurate understanding of the sources and levels of greenhouse gas emissions. This course will address all facets of greenhouse gas emissions accounting and reporting and will provide students with tangible skills needed to direct such efforts in the future.

Students in this course will gain hands-on experience designing and executing greenhouse gas emissions inventories for companies, financial institutions and governments employing all necessary skills including the identification of analysis boundaries,  data collection, calculation of emissions levels, and reporting of results. In-class workshops and exercises will complement papers and group assignments. A key component of this course will be critical evaluation of both existing accounting and reporting standards as well as GHG emissions reduction target setting practices.

This course will introduce many of the challenges facing carbon accounting practitioners and will require students to recommend solutions to these challenges derived through critical analysis. Classes will examine current examples of greenhouse gas reporting efforts and will allow students the opportunity to recommend improved calculation and reporting methods.

• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Peter T Clarke
  Info
• 3 points

ESG-ALIGNED CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

ESG-ALIGNED CORP GOVERNAN

Environmental, social and governance issues (‘ESG’) are moving to center stage for corporate boards and executive teams.  This elective course complements management and operations courses by focusing on the perspective and roles of the board and C-suite of corporations, financial institutions and professional firms in addressing ESG risks as well as promoting and overseeing governance aligned with ESG principles. The course focuses on the interchange between the external legal, competitive, societal, environmental and policy ‘ecosystems’ corporations face (which vary around the world) and a company’s internal structure, operations and pressures. We will use the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the UN Global Compact Principles (which incorporate all aspects of ESG) as the central frameworks to explore the concept of a corporation’s responsibility to respect and remedy human rights and environmental harms.  We will also examine the Equator Principles and other frameworks that spell out good practices for project finance and other investment decisions, and reference a wide range of the myriad indices, supplier disclosure portals and benchmarks that exist in this inter-disciplinary field.  Relevant regulations, corporate law regimes and court cases will be discussed from the point of view of what business managers need to know. While most of the course will deal with companies and firms serving global, regional or national markets, several examples will deal with the question of how the ESG ecosystem affects or offers opportunities to start-ups.

• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Jessica M Wasser
  Info
• 3 points

ESG - Corporate Strategy

Publicly traded companies are increasingly challenged to contribute to sustainable development and improve quality of life for everyone. The years ahead will reveal the negative side effects and blind spots of conventional strategy tools, which often focus on short-termism, profit maximization, and share price. Historically, social expectations of businesses have been limited to the creation of wealth for owners and shareholders as well as the creation of jobs and economic development for the communities in which they operate. This limited set of expectations has allowed managers to focus on profit maximization as their primary objective and source of value creation. 

Transformative business models, however, will become increasingly important as businesses face the challenges of climate change, resource scarcity and social inequity that dominate today’s competitive business landscape. Acquiring the skills to help navigate these conditions will be essential to businesses that seek to thrive and foster a more sustainable world and create shared stakeholder value. 

This course will explore the fundamental role of business in contributing to a more sustainable and just world and the emerging strategies companies are using to align business value creation with social and environmental impacts.  How corporations successfully balance the expectations and interests of stakeholders with profit maximization will be explored. This course will also identify the impacts, risks, and opportunities that leadership must assess and develop strategies to address. The course will explore the benefits of ESG/Sustainability in business, how for-profit businesses can thrive in a competitive setting while still creating long-term stakeholder value, and how companies have embedded ESG strategies, plans and programs to address their related challenges and opportunities. In addition, the course will consider business drivers and macro forces that inform ESG strategy and key concepts and tools that are essential to developing value generating ESG strategies that are good for people, planet, and enterprise profitability.

• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• 3 points

SUSTAINABLE FASHION AND STARTUP STRATEGY

SUST FASHION & STARTUP ST

Fashion’s consistent ranking among the top 3 global polluters has become a decades old fact struggling to gain a proportionate response among the brand startup and sourcing community. With industry revenues set to exceed $1 trillion, there is an opportunity to critically address existing revenue models predicated on traditional metrics, such as constant growth, and singular bottom lines. The course attempts to create a nexus between the fashion entrepreneur and systems thinker to explore strategic solutions that address sustainability though an environmental, social and economic lens. The aim is to foster a mindful, yet critical discourse on fashion industry initiatives, past and present, and to practice various tools that help transition existing organizations and incubate new startups towards sustainable outcomes.

• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Ammar Belal
  Info
• 3 points

ANALYSIS FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Energy Management is the cornerstone of any sustainability initiative. The generation, distribution, and use of energy has a profound, continuous, and global impact on natural resources, societal structure, and geopolitics. How energy is used has significant repercussions on an organizations cash flow and profitability. For these reasons, energy issues tend to be the fulcrum upon which sustainability programs hinge.

The ability to identify and articulate organizational benefits from energy savings tied to efficiency improvements and renewable energy projects is a requisite skill set for all sustainability managers.

This course will provide real-world information on energy management issues from a practitioner's perspective. Through lectures, problem sets, and readings students will learn how to manage energy audits, analyze building energy performance, and evaluate the energy use and financial impacts of potential capital and operations improvements to building systems. The class will focus on understanding energy issues from a building owner’s perspective, with discussions also examining energy issues from the perspective of utility companies, energy generators, and policy makers.

Best practice in energy management will always involve some level of complex engineering to survey existing conditions and predict energy savings from various improvement options. Sustainability managers need to understand how to manage and quality control these analyses and to translate to decision makers the opportunity they reveal. This course seeks to empower students to do that by providing an understanding of building systems and methods for quantitatively analyzing the potential benefit of various energy improvements.

• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Thomas Sahagian
  Info
• 3 points

SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE

• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Jenna M Lawrence
  CULPA: 6 Info
• 3 points

ENERGY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

ENERGY & SUSTAINABLE DEVE

• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• 3 points

ENERGY MARKETS & INNOVATION

Existing energy sources and the infrastructures that deliver them to users around the world are undergoing a period of rapid change. Limits to growth, rapidly fluctuating raw material prices, and the emergence of new technology options all contribute to heightened risk and opportunity in the energy sector. The purpose of this course is to establish a core energy skill set for energy students and prepare them for more advanced energy courses by providing a basic language and toolset for understanding energy issues.

Using theoretical and practical understanding of the process by which energy technologies are developed, financed, and deployed, this course seeks to highlight the root drivers for change in the energy industry, the technologies that are emerging, and the factors that will determine success in their commercialization. Understanding these market dynamics also informs good policy design and implementation to meet a broad range of social welfare goals.

Upon completing the course, students should not only understand the nature of conventional and emerging energy generation and delivery, but also the tools for determining potential winners and losers and the innovative pathways to drive their further deployment.

• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Travis Bradford
  CULPA: 1 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

Sust Metrics: Data, Construction and Use

Sustainability Metrics

The urgency to tackle sustainability-related global problems has revealed the growing need to create, maintain and analyze data on environmental and social issues with robust methodologies. The availability of nascent sustainability datasets and advanced data tools such as GIS, machine learning, and blockchain has expanded our capabilities for quick and agile decision-making in the sustainability space. However, compared to real-time economic data, timely and reliable environmental and social data are very much lacking. Sustainability indicators are able to transform a vast amount of information about our complex environment into concise, policy-applicable and manageable information. There is a very large universe of indicators to measure the sustainability performance of an entity, but the critical question is what to use and how many indicators should be evaluated. Sustainability indicators are either presented in a structured framework that can be used to isolate and report on relevant indicators, or aggregated towards a composite index or score/rating. The number of indicators used for assessing sustainability have proliferated, with hundreds of sustainability related indices around the world, including the Ecological Footprint, the Human Development Index, green accounting, Sustainable Development Goals, the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) co-developed by Columbia University and Yale University, the Urban Sustainability Ranking System that I helped develop, and various carbon indices.

• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Sonay Aykan
  Info
• 3 points

SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS

• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• 3 points

WRITING ABOUT GLOBAL SCIENCE FOR INTERNA

WRITING-GLOBAL SCI-INTL M

This is an interdisciplinary workshop for scientists, future NGO workers and journalists seeking skills in communicating 21st-century global science to the public. Scientists will be given journalism skills; journalists will learn how to use science as the basis of their story-telling. The course is designed to give students exercises and real-world experiences in producing feature stories on global science topics. While most scientists and international affairs professionals have been trained to write in the style of peer-reviewed journals, we will focus on journalism techniques, learning how to translate global science into accessible true stories that reach wide audiences.

Science is performed by passionate individuals who use their intelligence and determination to seek answers from nature. By telling their histories and uncovering the drama of discovery, we believe that there are ways for science to be successfully communicated to readers who might otherwise fear it.

• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Claudia Dreifus
  CULPA: 1 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

Core Data Science Concepts for Sustainab

The course introduces practitioners of sustainability management to the data analysis techniques and statistical methods which are indispensable to their work. The class teaches how to build statistical substantiation and to critically evaluate it in the context of sustainability problems. The statistics topics and examples have been chosen for their special relevance to sustainability problems, including applications in environmental monitoring, impact assessment, and econometric analyses of sustainable development. Students are assumed to have had no previous exposure to statistics.

This course demonstrates how to conduct a quantitative analysis of an organization’s work processes and operations, resource utilization, and environmental impact necessary to create a rationale for implementing sustainability initiatives. Statistical topics, including probability and random variables, will be discussed in both theory and in their practical applications for sustainability managers. This course will provide students with the skills to conduct regression analysis, to conduct hypothesis and estimation testing, to design surveys, and to prepare statistics packages. These quantitative skills are necessary for a professional manager responsible for the management of people, finances and operations toward sustainability goals.

• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Bruce Kahn
  Info
• 3 points

ACCOUNTING, FINANCE, AND MODELING OF SUS

ACCTG, FIN & MODL OF SUST

This course is designed to provide students with working knowledge on how to make successful investments in sustainable companies and to prepare students to be conversationally literate in financial reporting. As you leave the school and become leaders of organizations financial literacy will be a skill set that will be vital to success no matter what career path you go down. It starts with a strong foundation in accounting and corporate finance, then moves on to ESG/Impact screening of potential investments, along with valuation techniques used to arrive at a purchase price. It will explore financial models that can aggregate multiple variables used to drive investment decisions.

To understand and lead a transition to a sustainability-aware business, managers must first be familiar with the terminology, practices and consequences of traditional accounting and finance. Students will learn traditional financial and accounting methods and tools. We will examine how these methods and tools are changing to improve product and service design, resource efficiency and allocation, employee productivity and sustainability performance outcomes. Students will learn how value is created in a company and the different methods employed to create that value, conduct due diligence, discuss optimal capital structure to finance a transaction, execute a transaction, and implement a Sustainability-based value-added operating plan to the target company. The course will conclude with students preparing a persuasive investment memo and accompanying financial model to the investment committee of an impact investing asset management firm. The course also provides a practical introduction to selected non-financial accounting topics including sustainability reporting standards, ESG corporate performance indicators and corporate social responsibility report (CSR Reporting).

• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Brad Schwartz
  Info
• 3 points

FINANCING THE CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMY

FINANCING CLEAN ENERGY EC

• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Curtis S Probst
  Info
• 3 points

INTEGRATIVE CAPSTONE WORKSHOP

• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• 3 points

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Haralambos Vasiliadis
  Info
• 3 points

SUSTAINABLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Jonathan Hollander
  Info
• 3 points

THE EARTH'S CLIMATE SYSTEM

• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Benjamin I Cook
  CULPA: 3 h-index: 56 Info
• 3 points

Building a Sustainable Detroit: A Case

Once known as the arsenal of Democracy, the birthplace of the automobile assembly line, and the model city of America, 21st Century Detroit was emblematic of deindustrialization, decay, and insolvency.  Following the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history, Detroit is now being reframed in both local and national media as a comeback city with opportunity and possibility for all - urban pioneers, global investors, a creative class of new professionals, and suburbanites seeking a return to urban grit.

Despite these narratives, Detroit remains highly segregated - racially, geographically, economically, and socially.  While downtown is prospering, neighborhoods are still largely blighted and contaminated with legacy uses that remain unremediated.  Over 30,000 houses and other structures have been demolished in the past 8 years, a process that is under-regulated and contributes to both environmental and infrastructure harm.  To the extent new investments are improving the condition of housing and infrastructure in some strategic areas, these investments are displacing long term residents who remain at risk of eviction or foreclosure from their homes. Detroit remains one of the poorest big city in America and the poverty that remains is seemingly intractable.  At present, only 36% of residents earn a living wage.

Detroit’s present condition  is rooted in a protracted history of racist laws, policies, and practices that deny full citizenship to Black Detroiters, undermine Democracy, and position the city as a poor colony within a thriving metropolis.  Racism has disfigured the social, physical and economic landscape of Detroit to produce profound levels of neglect, abuse, and exploitation of its residents, resulting in wealth extraction, housing insecurity, healthy food and water scarcity, educational malpractice, and environmental destruction, all within the framework of wealth attraction, tax incentives, subsidized growth and capital accumulation in the greater downtown.

Through this course, we will examine the thesis that sustainability and racism cannot co-exist; that sustainability is rooted in inclusive social wellbeing now and in future generations, whereas racism is rooted in hoarding of power and resources for one dominant group. This hoarding of resources for a favored population impairs preservation for future generations.   Furthermore, environmental racism disconnects the consequences of environmental destruction from its beneficiari

• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Donna Givens Davidson
  Info
• 3 points

DATA ANALYSIS AND VISUALIZATION IN SUSTA

DATA ANALYSIS & VIS IN SU

• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Gregory G Yetman
  Info
• 3 points

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

INTL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

International Environmental Law is a fascinating field that allows students to consider some of the most important questions of the 21st century – questions that have profound ramifications for the quality of life for our generation as well as future generations. Global environmental problems are real and urgent. Their resolution requires creative and responsible thought and action from many different disciplines. 

 

Sustainability practitioners must understand global environmental issues and their effects on what they are charged to do. At one level, this course will consider the massive challenge of the 21st century:  how to alleviate poverty on a global scale and maintain a high quality of life while staying within the bounds of an ecologically limited and fragile biosphere -- the essence of sustainable development.  From a more practical perspective, the course will provide students with an understanding of international environmental policy design and the resulting body of law in order to strengthen their ability to understand, interpret and react to future developments in the sustainability management arena.

 

After grounding in the history and foundational concepts of international environmental law and governance, students will explore competing policy shapers and the relevant law in the areas of stratospheric ozone protection, climate change, chemicals and waste management, and biodiversity. The course satisfies the public policy course requirement for the M.S. in Sustainability Management program.

• W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• 3 points

SUSTAINABLE INVESTING & ECONOMIC GROWTH

• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Satyajit Bose
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 3 points

IMPACT FINANCE FOR SUSTAINABILITY PRACTI

IMPACT FINANCE FOR STNBLT

This survey course examines a range of sustainable and impact investing fixed income and equity products

before transitioning to the asset owner perspective on sustainable and impact investing. Each class session

includes elements of financial analysis, financial structure, social or environmental impact, and policy and

regulatory context. Brief guest lectures, podcasts, and three experiential exercises bring these topics to life.

At the end of the course, each student will be able to (i) construct a diversified portfolio of impact

investments based on the range of products tackled in class, (ii) integrate ESG into debt and equity valuation,

(iii) develop an impact investing product that an asset manager or investment bank could launch, (iv) develop

an impact investing strategy for an asset owner, and (v) lead either side of the investor-corporate dialogue on

sustainability. The lectures are designed to prepare students for both the impact investing product

development exercise and the impact investing asset owner strategy exercise, and these two exercises are

designed to prepare students for impact investing leadership over the course of their careers.

As an early innovator in social finance, dating back 24 years, the instructor provides students with a practical

toolkit, honed by making mainstream financial institutions and products more beneficial to a broader range

of stakeholders and making specialist impact investment firms more relevant to and integrated with

mainstream markets.

• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Bhakti Mirchandani
  Info
• 3 points

Sustainability Value Creation in Private

This course provides an overview of the way sustainability (environmental, social and governance) factors are analyzed in private markets. It focuses on preparing students to implement their understanding of the financial and societal risks and opportunities within the investment making process. In private markets, limited partners (pension funds, endowments, high net-worth individuals) have pushed the sustainability imperative and social consciousness of private equity funds and asset managers by seeking greater clarity around how their money is invested in both a responsible and financially meaningful way. Alongside this trend, an evolving regulatory environment globally has propelled the need to systemize evaluation frameworks for stakeholders within investment functions and advisors who support them.Unlike public markets, sustainability information is harder to glean in private markets and requires a skilled extraction and evaluation process. During this course, we examine a traditional ESG due diligence process embedded within the wider investment lifecycle (sourcing, diligence, hold and exit) through the lens of changing geographic regulatory landscape in financial investing and the market leading frameworks that quantify ESG factors for evaluation. The course culminates with a deal due diligence process that mimics an investment committee (IC) comprised of private equity leaders that understand the commercial and purpose-driven viability of an investment.

• M 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Angela Jhanji
  Info
• 3 points

CIRCULAR ECONOMY FOR SUSTAINABILITY PROF

Throughout history, societies have discovered resources, designed and developed them into textiles,

tools and structures, and bartered and exchanged these goods based on their respective values.

Economies emerged, driven by each society’s needs and limited by the resources and technology

available to them. Over the last two centuries, global development accelerated due in large part to the

overextraction and use of finite resources, whether for energy or materials, and supported by vast

technological advancements. However, this economic model did not account for the long-term impacts of

the disposal or depletion of these finite resources and instead, carried on unreservedly in a “take-make’-

waste” manner, otherwise known as a linear economy. Despite a more profound understanding of our

planet’s available resources, the environmental impact of disposal and depletion, and the technological

advancements of the last several decades, the economic heritage of the last two centuries persists today;

which begs the question: what alternatives are there to a linear economy?

The premise of this course is that through systems-thinking, interdisciplinary solutions for an alternative

economic future are available to us. By looking at resources’ potential, we can shape alternative methods

of procurement, design, application, and create new market demands that aim to keep materials,

products and components in rotation at their highest utility and value. This elective course will delve into

both the theory of a circular economy - which would be a state of complete systemic regeneration and

restoration as well as an optimized use of resources and zero waste - and the practical applications

required in order to achieve this economic model. Achieving perfect circularity represents potentially

transformative systemic change and requires a fundamental re-think of many of our current economic

structures, systems and processes.

This is a full-semester elective course which is designed to create awareness among sustainability

leaders that those structures, systems and processes which exist today are not those which will carry us

(as rapidly as we need) into a more sustaining future. The class will be comprised of a series of lectures,

supported by readings and case-studies on business models, design thinking and materi

• M 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Diana A Trushell
  Info
• 3 points

CONSUMERISM AND SUSTAINABILITY

TBA

• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• 3 points

SOLAR PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

TBA

• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Daniel J Giuffrida
  Info
• 3 points

Electrification and Decarbonization

Electricity is the lifeblood of human society. Decarbonization of global economies through electrification is seen as the most viable path for reducing GHG emissions and addressing the worst effects of climate change. Though generally accepted as the best path forward, an understanding of the operational parameters of the electric system is essential to understanding both the benefits and limitations of current and future actions. This includes the highly visible investments in renewable energy generation, less visible but equally important investments in transmission and distribution infrastructure, and the largely personal, private choices of individual households and businesses.

The course will examine pathways for the transition from fossil fuel-based electricity generation to one dominated by electricity generated by renewable energy. Students will examine the drivers of past energy transitions and various factors influencing current energy systems. At the conclusion of the course, students will be able understand the drivers of past energy transitions, the impact of those drivers on the overall energy supply chain, and how new technologies (e.g. distributed energy resources, smart meters, internet of things (IOT), etc.), consumer adoption of mass market products (e.g. Electric Vehicles, battery backup, etc,) and evolving consumer expectations (e.g. fast charging) are altering long held assumptions about energy production and use. Through this work, students will be able to infer practical steps to support current efforts to decarbonize and the potential impacts of those actions on the modern energy supply chain.

• M 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Rory Christian
  Info
• 3 points

POLICY AND LEGAL CONTEXT FOR SUSTAINABIL

POLICY & LEGAL CNTXT FOR

• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Charlie Cibrario Assereto
  Info
• 3 points

Business and Climate Change: Law, Policy

This course will provide students with an understanding of the ways and extent to which climate change law and policy is relevant to businesses, as well as the role of sustainability professionals in practical implementation. The course is divided into several core topics, including: (i) an overview of international and U.S. climate change policy and law, including the Paris Agreement, the Inflation Reduction Act and energy transition policy support, and human rights/environmental justice; (ii) market-led, voluntary initiatives such as the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), and related developments including the mainstreaming of ESG investing, sustainable finance, and the proliferation of corporate net zero goals; (iii) corporate governance, shareholder activism, and the emergence of mandatory regulation on climate disclosures, such as the E.U.’s Taxonomy Regulation and the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission’s proposed climate disclosure rule; (iv) carbon pricing, carbon markets, and “offsets”; (v) greenhouse gas emissions accounting and data challenges; and (vi) climate-related litigation and enforcement actions against corporations and financial institutions in the U.S. and other key markets, including “greenwashing” litigation and “anti- energy company boycott” investigations by several U.S. states.

• W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• 3 points

Geographies of Environmental Justice and

The origin of the American Environmental Justice Movement can be traced back to the emergence of the American
Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and more specifically to the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964. These historical
moments set the stage for a movement that continues to grow with present challenges and widening of economic,
health and environmental disparities between racial groups and socioeconomic groups. The environmental justice
movement builds upon the philosophy and work of environmentalism, which focuses on humanity’s adverse impact
upon the environment, entailing both human and non-human existence. However, environmental justice stresses the
manner in which adversely impacting the environment in turn adversely impacts the population of that environment.

At the heart of the environmental justice movement are the issues of racism and socioeconomic injustice.
This course will examine the intersections of race, equity, and the environment – focusing on history and the
growing role and impact of the environmental justice movement in shaping new sustainability discourses, ethics,
policies, and plans for the twenty-first century. Environmental Justice embeds various disciplines into its analytical
framework ranging from human geography and history to urban studies, economics, sociology, environmental
science, public policy, community organizing, and more. Drawing from these disciplines, as well as from recent
policies, advocacy, and regulations, students will develop a deeper understanding of equity, sustainability, social
impact, and environmental justice in places and spaces across the nation.

Building on the broadness of environmental justice and sustainability, this course will use the geography lens and
frameworks, building on the concept that geography brings together the physical and human dimensions of the
world in the study of people, places, and environments. Geography will set the stage for us to explore a variety of
environmental justice topics and issues in different regions across the nation, from the Black Belt South to the Rust
Belt to Cancer Alley, New Orleans, and Atlanta; then back to New York City and the metropolitan area, introducing
students to initiatives, policies, stakeholders, research, community groups, and advocacy involved in the
development and implementation of environmental laws, policies, practices, equity-based solutions, and sustainable
infrastructure.

• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: John E Williams
  Info
• 3 points

Internship In SUMA

N/A

• Instructor: Kat Castro
  Info
• 3 points

INDEPENDENT STUDY

• Instructor: Maria L Gray
  Info
• 1 points

INDEPENDENT STUDY

Independent Study is a one- or three-credit course that can count toward the curriculum area requirement in Integrative Sustainability Management, Economics and Quantitative Analysis, Physical Dimensions, Public Policy, General and Financial Management, or Elective, with the approval of the faculty advisor. A final deliverable relating to the Sustainability Management curriculum is required at the end of the semester, and will be evaluated for a letter grade by the faculty advisor and reported to the SUMA program office.

• Instructor: Maria L Gray
  Info
• 1-3 points

INDEPENDENT STUDY

• Instructor: Maria L Gray
  Info
• 3 points

SUMA PS6120 Equity, Policy, and Sustaina

Public policy shapes how our environment, both natural and built, is managed and regulated. Policy not only creates the infrastructure and regulatory frameworks needed to support sustainability goals, but is also critical in establishing an equitable foundation that supports individual and collective change in pursuit of those goals.

This course will serve as an introduction to equity in sustainability policy: We will survey federal, state, and local policies and proposals to understand how we use policy to enhance urban resilience, mitigate environmental impacts, and also promote social and economic justice. Using an interdisciplinary approach that draws from economics, sociology, urban studies, critical theory, and more, students will develop their capacities to read and interpret policy, enhance their understanding of current policy frameworks, and strengthen their ability to engage with emerging policy developments.

Building on contemporary efforts in public policy, we will use an equity lens to focus on the human dimension of sustainability. We will explore policy frameworks and dialogues that foster more equitable outcomes, increase engagement of people most impacted, and contribute to sustainability goals. As an entry point, the course will focus on policies related to climate adaptation and urban sustainability transitions, setting the stage for students to explore equity in urban resilience efforts and to examine intersections of race, class, and other social factors with access to resources.

The course will be discussion-based and center participatory activities (e.g., student-led discussions, paired analyses, team exercises) designed to encourage students to consider policy issues from multiple perspectives—including identifying disparities and assessing opportunities for increasing equity in the sustainability policy sector. The course will also invite scholars and practitioners to share expertise and experience from the field. Students are not expected or required to have any previous experience with policy or law.

• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Dan Mathis
  Info
• 3 points

Climate Risk & Scenario Analysis

The course provides an overview of the scenario analysis and climate risk modeling process for corporate issuers and government entities. There is a brief introduction to the climate models utilized by the IPCC, both global and regional. There is a description of the scenario generation and analysis process, with linkages to benchmark scenarios outlined by international bodies. This is followed by a review of the linkages between climate models and socio-economic variables in the form of integrated assessment models, Ricardian models and economic input-output analysis. There is one module on the information systems needed to ensure good adaptation and a review of best practices and guidelines for climate risk management strategies. Integrated examples of climate risk and opportunities for specific issuers are discussed in the last 2 classes. The problem sets and exercises are designed to provide practice in applying high-level guidelines and climate damage relationships to the strategies and operations of specific countries, industries and companies.

• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• 3 points

Applied Energy Methods in Affordable Hou

This course looks to legal definitions of “low-income” and “disadvantaged community” codified in federal and state statutes to frame discussions on energy insecurity and resiliency risks. Using these guiding points, a cross-disciplinary approach is followed to explore how the construction of energy efficient and resilient buildings contribute to their affordability in operations and maintenance. The course primarily focuses on creating sustainable and affordable multifamily housing, a building type unique to urban areas located in the US Northeast. However, in view of recommended strategies to meet carbon reduction goals, such as building electrification, the parameters of the course are expanded to highlight best practices in equitable policy-making around the design of utility rates and rules for low-income electric customers.

• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Kenyetta N Lovings
  Info
• 3 points