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Discover climate course materials and resources.
Search the shared repository of simulations, case descriptions and course syllabi to enhance your own climate-related teaching.
- Case Description
In 2009 Mark Weick, Director of Sustainability at The Dow Chemical Company, faced a difficult decision. Dow had spent three years working steadily toward meeting its 2015 sustainability goals, but the recent acquisition of Rohm & Haas threatened to change all that.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen Group, has just been notified that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resource Board will begin investigating claims that some of the company’s diesel engine vehicles have violated emissions standards.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
Alexander Cooper is gearing up to lead an expansion strategy for the scrappy and super successful car sharing service, Uber. While the company has not been without its controversy, it is making headway in far off places like India.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
The race to lightweighting is well underway with the introduction of the aluminum body Ford F150. Raj Reddy, vice president of strategy for global rolled products at Alcoa, one of the biggest aluminum manufacturers in the world, knows, however, that the competition in the aluminum market will get stiffer with the introduction of more stringent CAFE standards.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
Intel Corporation is a leading manufacturer of components found in nearly all electronics.Intel became aware that its supply chain for tantalum, tun, tungsten, and gold was fueling one of the deadliest conflicts since World War II.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
This case centers around Vodafone Egypt and its role in the political instability of Egypt in 2011. The then-president of Egypt asked telecommunication providers to terminate operations to help mitigate the abilities of citizens to rally rapport with the global media and organize local demonstrations.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
The Kellogg Company has made aggressive changes to its policy for the sourcing of palm oil for its products since 2011. In addition, since 2008 Kellogg has been a corporate member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an organization and certification scheme that promotes sustainable production of palm oil.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
Single-use packaging waste is invading all corners of the world. Wholesale change is urgently needed to create packaging that does not wreak havoc on our planet.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
The case follows Danish brewer Carlsberg as it develops the Green Fiber Bottle, a beer bottle made of wood pulp, in collaboration with a startup, a small-to-medium sized enterprise (SME), and a Danish University.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
This case study describes Patagonia’s goal to become carbon neutral by 2025 in an absolute sense — that is to reduce emissions to zero while still growing the company.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
This case describes how Kimberly-Clark is encouraging consumer recycling of flexible plastic film packaging, which is wrapped around many of its products, including paper towels, toilet paper, and more.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
This case study examines Patagonia’s Durable Water Repellent (DWR) problem–DWR is a highly effective chemical treatment used to waterproof jackets but has by-products that are toxic and persist in the environment.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
This case examines the challenges and opportunities faced by Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.) as it attempts to help establish a cross-industry sustainability initiative to eliminate hazardous chemicals in the apparel supply chain.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
Amyris has grown from a Silicon Valley startup to a global publicly-traded company who genetically programs yeast into chemicals used by more than 250 million consumers in over 2,000 brands.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
Okta, a leader in identity and access management (IAM) software based in San Francisco, CA, has developed a unique and ambitious model for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
The #MeToo movement brought global awareness to the magnitude of gender-related inequalities in the workplace, including unequal pay and the lack of women in the C-suite and boardroom.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
Villy Wang founded BAYCAT in 2004 with the ambitious mission of ending inequality and racism through powerful storytelling. To accomplish that mission, she created a more financially sustainable nonprofit model. BAYCAT (Bayview-Hunters Point Center for the Arts and Technology) is run more like a business than a typical nonprofit.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
After a successful financial turnaround during the 2008-09 recession, Ford must decide how much to invest in emerging technologies facing competitors like Tesla and LeEco. The (B) case provides an update following the dismissal of Fields and the appointment of former Steelcase CEO and Ford Smart Mobility (FSM) chair Jim Hackett as his successor. Faced with a drop of 37 percent in stock price, Hackett lays five themes to turnaround the company.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
This case centers on BV as it seeks to raise $20 million for its first standalone fund between 2014 and 2016. Wes Selke and Rick Moss, the two BV co-founders, decided to raise Better Ventures Fund II.
- Topics on: Impact
- Case Description
This case examines Gap Inc. making history in 2014 by becoming the first Fortune 500 company to announce that it pays female and male employees equally for equal work.
- Topics on: Impact

