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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.
- Course
Corporate sustainability, or environmental governance by large private sector organizations, requires rethinking how firms operate in response to urgent climate and social challenges, and aligning business strategy with decarbonization, and balancing stakeholder expectations with long-term value creation. The rise in corporate sustainability presents the opportunity for firms to redefine their purpose, serving society rather than markets only. This course trains students to lead in corporate sustainability in terms of both the theory and applied practice, across several key areas: Energy efficiency, carbon target setting, decarbonizing energy consumption, stakeholder engagement and materiality assessment, financing sustainable goals, tracking and disclosing internal climate metrics, and calculating carbon footprint.
This includes setting carbon targets using the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTI) target setting tool; reading live building energy system analytics and understanding how inefficiencies are detected and remedied in real time; how to navigate different sources and forms of climate finance, including incentives, to defray the cost of achieving sustainability goals and environmental law compliance; using internal stakeholder engagement and materiality assessment from large firms to understand how effective stakeholder engagement and materially relevant impacts by firm operations are assessed; how tracking and disclosure of climate metrics to key repositories such as CDP is conducted to enable climate performance assessment; and how to calculate greenhouse gas emissions equivalences of large corporate activities and events. By integrating theory, data, and hands-on exercises, this course equips students with the skills needed to lead corporate sustainability efforts and meet the growing demand for climate accountability in business.
- Topics on: Strategy
- Course
This course addresses America’s persistent, deep divides and the vitality that has allowed it over time to transcend those divides and reshape itself. E Pluribus Unum – Out of many, one – served as the country’s aspirational motto from its inception, yet we are a nation of differences. USA Lab aims to highlight the economic, cultural, social and geographic factors that define the American experience. In this hands-on lab you will contribute to community success through specific projects.
At the same time, your project work will animate the larger ideas we discuss in class, ideas that have informed and shaped this social experiment throughout its history: the idea of a community acting on a shared notion of the common good; the idea of individual liberty as an organizing and defining principle; and the idea that conflicting values can be reconciled. USA Lab projects enable you to anchor these ideas in American communities and see how they are reflected in the experience of people living and working in cities, towns and rural regions across the United States. Through the projects you also have the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives
- Topics on: Justice, Policy, Strategy
- Course
Investigates sustainable development, taking a broad view to include not only a healthy economic base, but also a sound environment, stable and rewarding employment, adequate purchasing power and earning capacity, distributional equity, national self-reliance, and maintenance of cultural integrity.
Explores national, multinational, and international political and legal mechanisms to further sustainable development through transformation of the industrial state. Addresses the importance of technological innovation and the financial crisis of 2008 and the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and inflation, as well as governmental interventions to reduce inequality.
- Topics on: Economics, Justice, Policy
- Course
Analyzes federal and state regulation of air and water pollution, hazardous waste, greenhouse gas emissions, and production/use of toxic chemicals. Analyzes pollution/climate change as economic problems and failure of markets. Explores the role of science and economics in legal decisions.
Emphasizes use of legal mechanisms and alternative approaches (i.e., economic incentives, voluntary approaches) to control pollution and encourage chemical accident and pollution prevention. Focuses on major federal legislation, underlying administrative system, and common law in analyzing environmental policy, economic consequences, and role of the courts.
Discusses classical pollutants and toxic industrial chemicals, greenhouse gas emissions, community right-to-know, and environmental justice. Develops basic legal skills: how to read/understand cases, regulations, and statutes. Students taking graduate version explore the subject in greater depth.
- Topics on: Energy
- Course
15.270/“Ethical Practice: Leading Through Professionalism, Social Responsibility, and System Design” introduces seminar participants to aspects of ethics in business, with a focus on general management. Over 12 sessions, students explore both the philosophy driving business ethics and the daily challenges that managers face; they also engage on the subject with guest faculty and business and other professional practitioners. Individual sessions take the form of moderated discussion, with occasional short lectures from the instructor.
“Ethical Practice” walks participants through three ever-wider circles of ethical complexity: 1) individual, professional commitments; 2) the rights and responsibilities of corporations; and 3) the social, ethical underpinnings of business as an activity. We seek to define terms central to each of these circles, culminating in a brief historical assessment of business and capital today.
- Topics on: Justice, Policy, Strategy
- Course
This advanced climate change seminar will explore pathways to a low-greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions future with an emphasis on the policy frameworks required to establish a just transition to a clean energy economy — as well as the business, industry, and societal transformations that will be needed to respond successfully to climate change. Each session will introduce students to critical topics including: theories of change, climate change policy frameworks (at the global, national, state/provincial, and local levels), technology challenges and opportunities, incentives to spur innovation, finance strategies for nations in both the Global North and Global South, the role of private capital and sustainability-minded investors, climate justice and equity considerations, and potential points of policy leverage to drive transformative change. Students will be asked to think critically about the obstacles to deep decarbonization and the trade-offs across social objectives that might complicate the mobilization of society in response to the climate change challenge.
- Topics on: Decarbonization, Energy
- Course
Global challenges such as urbanization, food security, water crises, inequality, natural resource degradation, and climate change increasingly present material risks to corporations. Yet these same trends can create profitable opportunities for companies if innovation is harnessed to create products and business models that provide solutions for growing global markets.
In the course, we will examine how businesses assess their risks and opportunities, and how they develop strategies to promote more sustainable practices. (Formerly called “Sustainable Business Strategy”)
- Topics on: Justice, Strategy
- Course
“Sustainability” is a widely used and sometimes abused term by companies and entrepreneurs. In the business context, sustainability means not only “doing the same things better” but also “doing different things” and “doing them together with others”. While many companies have developed sustainability programs, improving operational efficiency, reducing carbon emissions, and minimizing waste, we are witnessing the implementation of non-systemic actions that do not contribute to developing a true sustainable strategy. For a company to be sustainable, it must effectively manage the competitive and seemingly divergent interests of all stakeholders: investors, employees, customers, governments, local communities, and the natural environment.
The goal of this course is to initiate a debate around the role and functioning of businesses in the face of the challenges and the opportunities provided by sustainability. Specifically, the course will first analyze the connections between sustainability and innovation as a means to translate sustainability strategies into improved financial performance. Additionally, the course will address the topic of measuring sustainability within different organizations.
- Topics on: Impact, Justice, Policy
- Course
The topic of corporate sustainability remains controversial. Some argue that sustainability is a property of whole systems, such as an ecosystem or the Earth as a whole, not of individual organizations. What, if anything, does it mean to say that a company is sustainable? Academic research on the topic of corporations and sustainability has seen rapid growth since the first Rio Earth Summit. This course will explore that body of knowledge, placing it within the larger context of environmental economics, and the economics of sustainability more broadly. The goals of the course are three-fold: (1) To give students a solid foundation in the economics of the environment and sustainability; (2) to apply economic fundamentals to crucial sustainability issues of climate change and energy policy; and (3) to examine critically the business case for sustainability, and the place of sustainability within corporate strategy.
- Topics on: Finance
- Course
Firms today face increasing pressure from activists, investors, and customers, to reduce the environmental impacts of their operations and supply chains as well as uphold basic human rights and labor standards for the people who produce the materials / components / products. At the same time, using a sustainability lens to look at its operations and supply chain, a firm can identify new opportunities for improving efficiency and innovations. Further sustainability (environmental / social) as an artifact has to combined with a discussion of responsibility. That is, how is responsibility (for ensuring sustainability) apportioned across the extended value chain that includes the end consumers? This course examines how to design and manage environmentally and socially responsible operations and supply chains.
- Topics on: Operations
- Case Description
Allbirds is a footwear startup focused on simple design, comfort, and sustainable natural materials.
- Topics on: Decarbonization, Operations, Strategy, Technology
- Resource
Do you have an idea that will drive business sustainability impact? Consider applying for Impact Project funding! Impact Projects are your opportunity to take your learning into your own hands. We offer financial support to help bring your ideas to life. Impact Projects have the additional benefit of helping to build your capacity and network and further your career goals. Past projects have included hands-on field experiences, prototyping for social enterprise start-ups, credentialed learning and certifications, as well as participation at sustainability conferences.
In addition to sourcing your own projects, you’ll also have an opportunity to work with organizations through projects sourced directly by the Erb Institute faculty and staff. We work closely with businesses and non-profit partners within our network to drive sustainability initiatives forward and scope projects where partners can leverage the knowledge and passion of Erb students and make progress towards their business and sustainability goals. You will have the opportunity to join specialized project teams in order to tackle pressing business challenges and provide recommendations to improve sustainability outcomes. Projects vary in length and students typically receive a stipend for their work. Past partner-led Impact Projects have been sourced from companies such as Amazon, Lime, Panera, and Carhartt.
As an Erb student, we’ll encourage you to take control of your own learning, think outside of the box, and create a project that will help you grow as a student and as a steward of the environment. On the largest scale, we’ve had students work with former Peace Corps partners to launch impact-driven projects.
While many Impact Projects are large in scale, we also offer this funding as an opportunity for you to take your learning outside of the University of Michigan campus. Utilize Impact Project funding to attend sustainability conferences, compete in case competitions, earn certifications, and present at symposiums.
Diversity, equity, inclusion, social, environmental and racial justice are a core part of our work at the Erb Institute. When you scope an Impact Project, we’ll encourage you to seek out projects that advance work at the nexus of business, sustainability, and justice.
- Topics on: Investing, Technology
- Resource
The Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization Model Law Project (LPDD-MLP) is a pro bono effort to draft model laws for use by legislators at the federal, state and local levels to support their efforts to achieve deep reductions in fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. The project is based on recommendations from the groundbreaking book Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States (Michael Gerrard and John C. Dernbach, eds., 2019). The work is supported by Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and Widener University Commonwealth Law School’s Environmental Law and Sustainability Center. Dozens of law firms and individual lawyers are contributing to this pro-bono effort as drafters, peer reviewers or in reaching out to policymakers.
Our website, LPDD.org, contains over 80 model laws that are a starting place for discussion and collaboration among elected officials, non-profit groups, and the private sector for enabling the U.S. to address climate change by reducing U.S. GHG emissions to net zero by 2050 or earlier. The site includes several Top 10 lists for some of the key categories, like electric vehicles, PUC’s, buildings and other topics as a short-hand introduction. In addition, the site references hundreds of other actions that states and other governmental bodies have taken to move towards decarbonization more rapidly. By providing policymakers the tools to achieve deep decarbonization, the Project will help achieve a restructuring of the energy economy, thus alleviating the worst effects of climate change, which are disproportionately suffered by marginalized communities, while providing such positive benefits as economic security, social equity, and environmental justice (EJ).
- Topics on: Policy
- Case Description
The case describes the landscape of French dairy farms, detailing their economic performance, structure, and the ongoing workforce reorganization. Environmental challenges, especially the complex assessment of a dairy farm’s impact on the environment, are discussed, emphasizing the delicate balance between emissions and carbon sequestration.
- Topics on: Strategy
- Resource
The Maastricht Manual on Measuring Eco-innovation offers guidance on the measurement of eco-innovation in order to provide high quality data for research and policies to support the green economy. It is the companionship material for the inno4sd open courses on (1) What is innovation for sustainable development and (2) Introduction to Green Economy.
The Maastricht Manual has been designed for researchers, policy makers and statisticians from National Statistical Offices (NSOs) and other organisations responsible for collecting and producing indicators. Policy makers and scholars can also use the Maastricht Manual to research and teach about the types of data that are required to inform green economy decision making and consequently to demand and fund the collection of relevant, high quality indicators on eco-innovation.
The Maastricht Manual has been written by leading scholars in the fields of innovation for sustainable development – some of them having led the process of revision of the latest version of the OECD Oslo Manual for the Measurement of Innovation.
- Topics on: Planning
- Resource
Columbia Business School’s Climate Knowledge Initiative provides business leaders with the curated, actionable knowledge needed to pick investable and scalable green technologies, while unapologetically flagging areas where business and public interests diverge.
This PPT deck and PDF provides a deep dive into wind.
- Topics on: Energy, Investing, Technology
- Resource
Columbia Business School’s Climate Knowledge Initiative provides business leaders with the curated, actionable knowledge needed to pick investable and scalable green technologies, while unapologetically flagging areas where business and public interests diverge.
This PPT deck and PDF provides a deep dive into what it would take to store energy at scale.
- Topics on: Energy, Investing, Technology
- Resource
Columbia Business School’s Climate Knowledge Initiative provides business leaders with the curated, actionable knowledge needed to pick investable and scalable green technologies, while unapologetically flagging areas where business and public interests diverge.
This article focused on four key points for business leaders working on energy storage.
- Topics on: Energy, Investing, Technology
- Resource
Columbia Business School’s Climate Knowledge Initiative provides business leaders with the curated, actionable knowledge needed to pick investable and scalable green technologies, while unapologetically flagging areas where business and public interests diverge.
This PPT deck and PDF provides a deep dive into what it would take to green hydrogen.
- Topics on: Energy, Investing, Technology
- Resource
Columbia Business School’s Climate Knowledge Initiative provides business leaders with the curated, actionable knowledge needed to pick investable and scalable green technologies, while unapologetically flagging areas where business and public interests diverge.
This article focused on four key points for business leaders working to green hydrogen.
- Topics on: Energy, Investing, Technology