Course Descriptions - Undergraduate Calendar 2023-2024

Introduction of ways in which business has and is responding to environmental and business issues; business and sustainable development; issues of corporate/business greening.

This course will explore organizational structures within business. Discussions will focus on factors that deter organizational change along with the means of overcoming these issues. A variety of guest speakers will demonstrate how the greening of industry has affected organizational structure in different business sectors. This course includes a review of business case studies where environmental management changes have resulted.

The examination and evaluation of environmental management systems such as ISO 14001. Alternate EMS systems will be compared and reviewed to identify their respective strengths and weaknesses. Case studies will be used to illustrate the ideas presented.

This course examines the role of entrepreneurship in finding solutions to environmental challenges. Discussions will focus on understanding entrepreneurship and the forces that are shaping contemporary green entrepreneurship. Students will also be introduced to the entrepreneurship process by assessing an environmental challenge, finding a solution, and developing a green business model.

The course presents the history of industrial ecology, defines its key concepts, presents its main methods, and discusses future directions. Local, national and international case studies will be discussed.

This course explores the principles of marketing with a focus on sustainability issues. Topics that will be explored include green consumerism; greenwashing, the incorporation of environmental considerations into successful products and services; the role of social marketing, government regulations, and other incentives related to green marketing.

A review of the successes and failures of businesses which have attempted to adopt sustainability principles into their strategies and practices. Case studies will be reviewed to identify barriers to adopting environmental priorities and the processes which proved successful in overcoming these obstacles.

Students will be equipped with the knowledge and expertise required to design and implement a circular economy initiative and monitor its progress through circularity indicators. In addition, students will be guided in assessing the business value of circular economy cases. Students will also gain a deep understanding by considering the individual circular economy cases from a system perspective to get a complete picture of environmental gains and losses.

This course introduces students to the basic principles, concepts, and values of doing research in environment and business. It will examine different research strategies and designs; define research questions; address ethical issues of involving human subjects in business research; identify primary and secondary data sources; and assess the effectiveness of various ways of communicating research results. This course takes stock of the quantitative research methods covered in earlier ENVS courses and introduces the basics of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods to provide further foundation for the fourth-year research projects.

Standards and auditing approaches used for sustainability management are examined. Public standards, like those from the International Organization for Standardization, are contrasted with private standards, developed by specific industries for product transparency and accountability in supply-chains. Auditing practice, as defined by the ISO 19011 standard, is examined including principles, steps, reporting and important concepts. Examples of performance standards and management system standards are explored, covering industrial, social and environmental issues. Lectures may be supplemented by required field trip(s) and/or field work.

Social marketing uses social psychology and marketing concepts to promote behavioural change (e.g. anti-smoking campaigns, promotion of household energy conservation, and so on). This course will focus on developing an understanding of social marketing and behavioural change models. These concepts will be applied in the context of sustainability issues, using case studies to demonstrate successful (and not so successful) social marketing programs.

In this course, the basics of sustainable finance will be explored. The course will cover topics such as green corporate finance, sustainability accounting, sustainable banking, climate finance, and social banking.

Development of alternative business models has important implications for sustainability. This course will explore the emergence of entirely new sustainable business models along with the revitalization of 'old' alternative business models from the past.

A sustainability lens is used to explore the intersection of fashion and consumption. With a focus on textiles and cosmetics, we will explore aspects of design, diversity and inclusion, ecolabelling, waste, material innovations, and the culture of consumption.

Course content varies according to instructor availability and demand for specific topics in environment and business, including field courses.

The application of the principles learned in earlier courses will focus on a particular project. Applications may include group projects of sufficient scope to demonstrate mastery of problem-solving, integration, and communication on a selected topic related to environment and business, or on selected environmental issues related to a specific business operation.

A continuation of ENBUS 402A.

A project course to integrate ideation, communication and problem-solving skills with venture proposal and prototype preparation. Students will learn about and be connected with various elements of the local entrepreneurship ecosystem. A sustainability lens will be used to assess the solution proposed. Teamwork is encouraged.

A continuation of ENBUS 403A.

This course builds students' technical competencies in life cycle assessment (LCA) and in critical analysis of products' environmental impacts through an understanding of life cycle management. Course content covers the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) life-cycle assessment framework, how to conduct technical LCA (including applying quantitative approaches using LCA software and databases, as available and appropriate), challenges of application of LCA to a range of product systems, limitations of LCA, and product life cycle management concepts for business and policy decisions. Students will use the knowledge gained to conduct their own technical LCA.

Sustainability of industrial materials is examined, including resources, production, use, and end-of-life. Different types of industrial materials and major applications (buildings, transportation, communications, etc.) are covered. Industrial ecology and management approaches help restructure production systems and support sustainable development.

The course focuses on the environmental reporting mechanisms required of businesses in North America and overseas. The course will also evaluate best practices with reporting performance in different business sectors.

Well-crafted environmental regulations, smart regulations, can not only protect the environment but also enhance business competitiveness. This course will discuss issues with regard to smart regulations from the viewpoint of various stakeholders, for example, governments, businesses, and customers.

Business practices need to reflect responsibility not just to shareholders, customers and staff, but also towards the local community. This course discusses what this means for management, and the strategies and practices that are needed to express this responsibility successfully.

The course will focus on corporate responsibility, including social and environmental obligations. The course will consider methods of creating a culture of integrity; examine and evaluate methods such as due-diligence processes, risk assessment, sustainability assessment to integrate responsibility into day-to-day business positions; and evaluate social and sustainability reports; evaluate methods to determine the link between responsibility and increased profitability and benchmark responsibility in different business sectors including non-profit organizations.

This course will allow for additions to the program on a short-term basis, and for the development of future permanent courses.