Sustainability Leadership

Module 1: Sustainability challenges and opportunities

What needs to change, and how to bridge the sustainability gap through rewiring the economy.

• Identify the key systems pressures and trends that are affecting the economy and society
• Discuss the impact of industrialization and population growth on the widening gap between the rich and the poor
• Identify the impact and dependencies of the private sector on natural and social capital
• Identify the key scientific findings that highlight the need to act on climate change and the degradation of natural capital
• Discuss how economic, social, and environmental challenges can only be met through rethinking the current growth model
• Illustrate how government, business, and finance each individually, and in collaboration, have a role to play in delivering sustainable outcomes
• Investigate the impact of current global economic, social, and environmental pressures on business in a global context

Module 2: Production and consumption

Implement sustainable business models and processes for sourcing, producing, and consuming.

• Recognize the range of different approaches to sustainable production and consumption that companies can influence
• Discuss how companies can challenge current production and consumption practices
• Show how sustainable production practices might be applied in other business contexts
• Identify the degree to which businesses have a responsibility to educate and influence stakeholders on sustainable consumption to shape future consumption patterns
• Analyze the tension between global strategies to reduce consumption and respond to the aspirations of a growing middle class in developing and emerging economies
• Justify the importance of integrating sustainability across an organization’s value chain to ensure long-term value creation

Module 3: Applying performance management to sustainability

By definition, performance measurement is always selective. Businesses cannot measure every performance aspect, so they must decide on the most important metrics and indicators to focus on.

A creditable, trustable and impactful organization’s performance measurement systems (in relation to sustainability), need to include the following key elements:

• Cover the most appropriate performance from a sustainability perspective
• Enable management to measure performance from a sustainability perspective
• Provide a balanced picture of the organization’s performance (rather than, for example, just focusing on areas in which the organization is doing well)
• Based on clear performance measurements (eg inputs, activities; outputs), and reliable data
• Refer to benchmarks or comparators against which performance can be assessed
• resented in a way which maximizes its usefulness to its audience

Module 4: Circular economy

Our current linear economy consumes finite resources, turns them into products, and creates a never-ending stream of waste. By cleverly designing products, systems, and policies, we can instead create a circular approach that benefits businesses, people, and the planet.

• Understanding the Circular Economy
• Designing for a Circular Economy
• Making the shift

Module 5: Take advantage of new business opportunities

Companies can find opportunities through innovation and sustainable business opportunities. These opportunities can be new segments, new products or new versions of existing products.

• Recognize the areas that present opportunities
• Discuss how these opportunities present a business competitive advantage
• Prepare a short presentation of the selected opportunity
• Present the opportunity to the class and lecturer
• Gain feedback from the class and lecturer