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ESDB 619: Sustainable Development and Business Report a Broken Link

This course explores the principles, issues and applications of sustainable development (SD). Participants examine their environmental, social, economic and ethical obligations, both as individuals and as organizational leaders. They discuss SD as a potential solution to a range of global and local concerns, unpacking the relationships between organizational performance, economic externalities, global inequity, over-consumption, and environmental degradation.
 

Week 1

Reading 1: Athabasca University (2020). Global sustainable development timeline. ESDB 619 Course Materials (adapted from Creech, 2006).
Reading 2: Barbier, E. B. (1987). The concept of sustainable economic development. Environmental Conservation, 14(2), 101-110.
Reading 3: Rendtorff, J. D. (2019). Sustainable Development Goals and progressive business models for economic transformation. Local Economy, 34(6), 510–524.
Reading 4: Schweickart, D. (2009). Is sustainable capitalism an oxymoron? Perspectives on Global Development & Technology, 8(2/3), 559-580.
Reading 5: Tobgay, T. (2016). This country isn't just carbon neutral — it's carbon negative [Video].
Reading 6: Hickel, J., & Kallis, G. (2020). Is green growth possible? New Political Economy, 25(4), 469-486.

Week 2

Reading 7: Cukier, K. (Host). (2020, January 8). Babbage: Firefighting─The lessons from Australia’s wildfires. [Audio podcast, 00:00 -7:00 minutes]. The Economist.

OR read The Economist. (2020, January 11). The lesson from Australia’s fires.

http://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/01/11/the-lessons-from-australias-fires

(Note: Requires sign up for an account.)
Reading 8: Berndardino, P. (2019). 2019 SDG survey report. Global Compact Network Canada.

(Note: Scan report only. Requires sign up to access.)
Reading 9: Diamond, J. (2003). Why do societies collapse? [Video]. Ted Conferences.
Reading 10: Frost & Sullivan, & Globescan. (2017). The sustainable development goals (SDGs): The value for Europe. CSR Europe.
Reading 11: McDonald, B. (Host). (2022, December 3). Pinpointing the Anthropocene. Where is the signature of the age of humans? [Audio podcast segment]. In Quirks and Quarks with Bob McDonald. CBC Listen On Demand.
Reading 12: United Nations. (2022). The sustainable development goals report 2022.
Reading 13: McGahan, A. M., & Sukhram, J. (2020, Fall). No going back: Challenges and opportunities after COVID-19. Rotman Management, 6-11.
Reading 14: Howes, M., Wortley, L., Potts, R., Dedekorkut-Howes, A., Serrao-Neumann, S., Davidson, J., Smith, T., et al. (2017). Environmental Sustainability: A Case of policy implementation failure? Sustainability, 9(2), 165.
Reading 15: Phil. (n. d.). Affluenza / Escape from affluenza [Video].
Reading 16: Snorek, J. (2018, June 4). Tracking the battles for environmental justice: here are the world’s top 10. The Conversation: Canada.
Reading 17: WelcomeAnthropocene. (2012). Welcome to the Anthropocene [Video]. Vimeo.

Week 3

Reading 18: (2009, May 18). Ray Anderson: The business logic of sustainability [Video]. YouTube.
Reading 19: SGImpact. (2011, December 11). Creating shared value: Connecting business, societal value and opportunity [Video]. YouTube.
Reading 20: Blinder, M. (2018, November 27). Making cryptocurrency more environmentally sustainable. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 1–4.
Reading 21: Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2011). Creating shared value. Harvard Business Review, 89(1/2), 62-77.
Reading 22: The Economist. (2019, March 1). American sustainable funds outperform the market.

(Note: Requires free sign up for an account.)
Reading 23: Magnin, A. (2015). Triple bottom line & sustainability: The science of good business [Video]. Vimeo.
Reading 24: Whelan, T., & Fink, C. (2016, October 21). The comprehensive business case for sustainability. Harvard Business Review.

Week 4

Reading 25: Atkinson, N. (2021, November 14). Fashion brands are launching buy-back programs in increasing numbers, but shoppers need to take a closer look. Globe and Mail.
Reading 26: Cumenal, F. (2017). Tiffany's CEO on creating a sustainable supply chain. Harvard Business Review, 95(2), 41-46.
Reading 27: Howard, S. (2013). Let's go all-in on selling sustainability [Video]. TEDGlobal.
Reading 28: mjmfoodie. (2011, January 14).  Episode 32: Externalities [Video].
Reading 29: Sheth, J., Sethia, N., & Srinivas, S. (2011). Mindful consumption: a customer-centric approach to sustainability. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39(1), 21-39.
Reading 30: Stahel, W. R. (2016, March 23). The circular economy. Nature, 531(7595), 435.
Reading 31: Murphy, C., & Rosenfield, J. (Eds.). (2016). The circular economy: Moving from theory to practice (Special Edition). McKinsey & Company.
Reading 32: United Nations Global Compact. (2015). A global compact for sustainable development – Business and the SDGs: Acting responsibly and finding opportunities.

Week 5

Reading 33: Ambec, S., Cohen, M. A., Elgie, S., & Lanoie, P. (2013). The Porter hypothesis at 20: Can environmental regulation enhance innovation and competitiveness? Review of environmental economics and policy, 7(1), 2-22.
Reading 34: Amendolare, N. (2017, November 21). What is the tragedy of the commons? [Video]. TedEd.
Reading 35: Bithas, K. (2011). Sustainability and externalities: Is the internalization of externalities a sufficient condition for sustainability? Ecological Economics, 70(10), 1703-1706.
Reading 36: Waldie, P. (2021, November 15). COP26 ends with a deal, but coal compromise leaves at-risk countries angry. Globe and Mail.
Reading 37: Globe and Mail. (2018, November 14). Canada's carbon tax: A guide to who’s affected, who pays what and who opposes it.
Reading 38: European Commission. (2020). EU holistic approach to sustainable development.
Reading 39: Chandrasekhar, A., Dunne, D., Gabbatiss, J., Goodman, J., Evans, S., & Zhang, Z. (2022). Key outcomes agreed at the UN Climate Talks in Sharm-el-Sheikh. CarbonBrief.
Reading 40: Porter, M. E., & van der Linde, C. (1995). Green and competitive: Ending the stalemate. Harvard Business Review, 73(5),120-134.
Reading 41: Ruggeri, A. (2018, January 12). How can you measure what makes a country great? BBC News.

Week 6

Reading 42: Ernst & Young LLP. (2014). Value of sustainability reporting: A study by EY and Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship [EYG No. FQ0061].
Reading 43: Green, M. (2015, November 3). How we can make the world a better place by 2030. Ted Talks. https://youtu.be/o08ykAqLOxk
Reading 44: Jorgensen, H. B. (2018, June 27). Demystifying the 'alphabet soup' of reporting frameworks [Panel Presentation]. Ethical Corporation Responsible Business Summit, New York.  http://www.ethicalcorp.com/demystifying-alphabet-soup-reporting-frameworks  

(Note: Visit the internal links as you are reading to learn more about each reporting framework.)
Reading 45: Mohinof, T., & Rogers, J. (2017, March 20). SASB and GRI pen joint op-ed on sustainability reporting synchronicity: How to approach corporate sustainability reporting in 2017. SASB.
Reading 46: Ordonez-Ponce, E., & Khare, A. (2021). GRI 300 as a measurement tool for the United Nations sustainable development goals: assessing the impact of car makers on sustainability. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 64(1), 47.
Reading 47: Torrance, M. (Host). (2018, June 11). Sustainability disclosures: reporting with SASB (Episode 04) [Audio podcast]. In Sustainability Leaders. BMO. https://sustainabilityleaders.bmo.com/en/news-insights/sustainable-finance/sustainability-leaders/episode-04-sustainability-disclosures-reporting-with-sasb/ 

(Note: Transcript available on webpage.)

Week 7

Reading 48: Gupta, A. (2019). The decade to deliver: A call to business action [The 2019 United Nations Global Compact / Accenture Strategy CEO study on sustainability].
Reading 49: Engel, H., Enkvist, P-A., & Henderson, K. (2015, July 1). How companies can adapt to climate change. McKinsey & Company.
Reading 50: PwC. (2015). Make it your business: Engaging with the sustainable development goals. PwC Global - Sustainability.
Reading 51: Weybrecht, G. (2017). From challenge to opportunity–Management education's crucial role in sustainability and the sustainable development goals–An overview and framework. The International Journal of Management Education, 15(2B), 84-92.
Reading 52: Frazee, G. (2019, September 23) 4 reasons it’s hard to become a sustainable business. PBS News Hour.

Week 8

Reading 53: Davis-Peccoud, J., Stone, P., & Tovey, C. (2017). Fighting sustainability inertia. Stanford Social Innovation Review, 15(3), 59-60.
Reading 54: Galpin, T., Whitttington, J. L., & Bell, G. (2015). Is your sustainability strategy sustainable? Creating a culture of sustainability. Corporate Governance, 15(1), 1-17.
Reading 55: Laughland, P., & Bansal, T. (2011). The top ten reasons why businesses aren't more sustainable. Ivey Business Journal, 75(1), 1-4.
Reading 56: CBC Radio. (2021, July 21). BBC Reith lectures: Mark Carney, Part One [Radio]. Ideas with Nahlah Ayed. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-23-ideas/clip/15826098-bbc-reith-lectures-mark-carney-part-one