GRA 8521 Energy & Society
GRA 8521 Energy & Society
This course is part of the Master of Management in Energy in cooperation with BI Norwegian Business School and IFP School.
Energy is crucial for society and for the economy. When well governed, they enable secure, affordable, and reliable energy access, support economic development, and contribute to environmental sustainability, equity, and justice at national and international levels. At the same time, poorly governed energy systems generate profound social, economic, and ecological harms, including climate change, biodiversity loss, energy injustice and energy poverty.
Energy is thus intertwined with societal development. Energy systems should ideally both ensure energy security, avoid energy poverty, and preserve the biosphere, a conundrum often referred to as the energy trilemma. The course will address the energy industry’s ecological and social challenges and opportunities from a broad set of perspectives, including a global governance perspective, a stakeholder perspective and a business strategy perspective that focuses on aligning commercial initiatives with social and political legitimacy concerns.
The materials transition inherent in exploiting renewable energy sources contains business opportunities but also introduces fundamental challenges to existing power structures embedded in global supply chains. The course discusses the origin of this materials transition and investigates how energy governance changes as a consequence of these developments, and how the energy industry responds.
Business organisations play a central role in shaping the energy system both as producers and consumers – and prosumers – in industry ecosystems. The course therefore investigates how business strategies and new business models can be forged in constructive interplay with government and civil society. We discuss the impact of international norms and policy frameworks (e.g. the UN’s SDGs, the EU’s Green Deal, OECD guidelines on responsible business conduct) and how companies can navigate these expectations in the current geopolitical context of increasing fragmentation, regionalisation, and continued interdependencies.
The candidates are able to
- identify critical challenges for good energy governance to meet the energy trilemma in national and international settings.
- analyse and evaluate regulatory and norm-based requirements for energy firms on a national level.
- evaluate the role of partnered governance arrangements as drivers of transparency and accountability in global supply chains.
The candidates are able to
- critically engage with demands arising from regulatory requirements and societal expectations to further sustainable development in the energy industry.
- evaluate business strategies and their viability in light of major policy initiatives such as the EU’s Green Deal and adherent tools and regulations.
- discuss and evaluate ideas for innovation and value creation in the materials transition.
- forge a cooperative dialogue with different stakeholders (including employees, suppliers, customers, governments and NGOs).
The candidates are able to
- constructively engage with tensions inherent in the energy trilemma to encourage a green, just and equitable strategy in an energy industry context.
- reflect on the opportunities and limitations of AI-supported analysis.
The course is built around governance of the three dimensions in the energy trilemma: energy security, energy poverty and environmental preservation. We discuss challenges and opportunities at macro (global), meso (national) and micro (companies) levels, aiming to increase awareness of the complexity of energy governance whilst exposing participants to representations from governance, stakeholder and business strategy perspectives.
- Energy security: security for whom and against what threats? From sovereignty to resilience. The materials transition, global supply chains.
- Energy poverty: energy justice, procedural legitimacy, polycentric governance, transparency and accountability.
- Environmental preservation: the climate challenge, accounting for nature, regenerative solutions, energy efficiency, industrial symbiosis.
1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours.
Sessions include lectures, seminars and group work.
Attendance to all sessions in the course is compulsory. If you have to miss part(s) of the course you must ask in advance for leave of absence. More than 25% absence in a course will require retaking the entire course. It's the student's own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/ It's learning or other course materials.
Specific information regarding student evaluation beyond the information given in the course description will be provided in class.
The course is a part of a full Master of Management in Energy (MME) and examination in all courses must be passed in order to obtain a certificate.
In all BI Executive courses and programmes, there is a mutual requirement for the student and the course responsible regarding the involvement of the student's experience in the planning and implementation of courses, modules and programmes. This means that the student has the right and duty to get involved with their own knowledge and practice relevance, through the active sharing of their relevant experience and knowledge.
Granted admission to the Master of Management in Energy programme. Please consult our student regulations.
| Assessments |
|---|
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Submission PDF Exam/hand-in semester: First Semester Weight: 70 Grouping: Group (1 - 3) Duration: 4 Week(s) Comment: The students are evaluated through a four week course paper in groups (1-3 members from the class groups), counting 70% of the final grade. Exam code: GRA 85214 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Portfolio Assessment other than PDF Exam/hand-in semester: First Semester Weight: 30 Grouping: Individual Duration: 1 Week(s) Comment: The students are evaluated on a portfolio assessment designed to track progress throughout the course period, counting 30% of the final grade. Exam code: GRA 85215 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
All exams must be passed to get a grade in this course.
| Activity | Duration | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Teaching | 40 Hour(s) | |
Student's own work with learning resources | 95 Hour(s) |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 5 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 135 hours.
