Introduction
The course provides a broad introduction to the sustainability, climate change and social equity issues the world faces. It surveys the facts, values and challenges of sustainable growth. The focus is on the trade-offs that society and humanity at large face, and the role of business, financial markets, governments and regulation in achieving the UN 2030 Sustainable Developments Goals (SDG). The course provides a rigorous analysis of global sustainability related issues, covering the relevant theories of climate change, externalities and public goods, and international cooperation mechanisms. The course’s central theme consists of the role of financial markets, and financial management in addressing ESG concerns, and how the different sectors of the financial markets (equity, fixed income, banking and insurance) are incorporating sustainability issues.
Standard finance and economic models ignore environmental and social concerns. Nature and its services are assumed to be freely available. However, the world’s current situation clearly demonstrate that ecological resources are limited. Business, finance and economic models of the future must therefore incorporate social equity concerns and scarcity of environmental resources if they are to be useful tools to address sustainability issues.
This introductory course gives students insight into how businesses can internalise their footprint in the society and the environment. How can Corporate Governance be adapted to accommodate a more sustainable business practice? How can long-term institutional owners contribute to making businesses reach their long-term sustainable development goals? How does this impact the strategy and business model of a corporation? What is the role of the legislator to force companies in the right direction? These questions and more will be addressed in this course - all in a global context.