APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014

MAN 3097/3098/3099/3100 Green Growth

Responsible for the course
Jørgen Randers, Per Espen Stoknes

Department
Department of Accounting - Auditing and Law

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
30

Language of instruction
Norwegian and english

Introduction
The international interest in ”Green Growth” and ”Green Economics” has recently been increasing. The debates about policies and measures for transitioning the conventional economies into a more environmental direction have been intense in a set of countries. Among other influential initiatives, the Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change (2006) led to a marked change in how economic arguments have been used in favour of environmental policies. The Stern Review estimated the long term upside of a turnaround to low carbon economies would be far greater than the costs. The longer society delays, the higher turnaround costs would be.

Norwegian and Scandinavian companies have increasingly started reviewing their business development and strategies to include more green values and business models. Research on these issues has increased too as shown in overview reports such as ECON Pöyry (2012), TEEB (2011) and UNEP (2011).

This Master program will give participants the necessary research-based knowledge to both critically assess and to implement the theories and ambitions about green economics into informed practice in Nordic organisations. The focus will be on green business models and strategy, accounting and measurements, innovation and leadership. Participants will get the tools necessary to succeed with implementing the practices of green economics for growth and profitability.

Learning outcome
Knowledge objectives:
a) get overview over central theories, methods and approaches in green economics and environmental economics
b) achieve knowledge about tools for whole-system thinking, including system dynamics
c) get practical understanding of the most central concepts within green strategy, innovation and accounting
d) accumulate experience from cases with organisational change into green business, organisation and policy.

Skills objectives:
e) be able to lead and facilitate all phases and steps in a green strategy process and associated reporting
f) be able to develop guidelines for green accounting in their own company/industry
g) be able to describe, develop and communicate green innovations
h) leadership skills for transitioning to green business

Attitude objectives:
i) Students shall be able independently to continue own competence development and specialisation
j) Students wish to strengthen green growth in own organisations
k) Students shall be able to contribute to public discourse relevant to the discipline of green economics
l) Students shall understand what responsible investment in financial, social and natural capitals is (”green ethics”)

Prerequisites
Bachelor degree or equivalent and 4 years work experience. Please confirm our Student regulations.

Compulsory reading
Books:
Brady, Jon et al. 2011. Environmental Management in Organizations: The IEMA Handbook
Daly & Farley 2010, Ecological Economics 2.Version Principles and Applications. 2010. Ecological Economics 2.Version Principles and Applications
Esty, D and Simmons, P. 2011. The Green to Gold Business Playbook. NJ: Wiley
Harding, Stephan. Animate Earth. 2009. London: Green Books
Kane, Gareth. 2011. The Green Executive: Corporate Leadership in a Low Carbon Economy
Makower, Joel. 2008. Strategies for the Green Economy: Opportunities and Challenges in the New World of Business
Midttun, Atle. 2005. Policy making and the role of government. Realigning business, government and civil society. Journal of Corporate Governance. vol. 5 no. 3. 159-174
Randers, Jørgen. 2012. 2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years. Chelsea Green
Stiglitz, Joseph, Sen, Amartya and Jean-Paul Fitoussi. Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. 2009. Presented to Sarkozy 14 Sep. 2009. Kan lastes ned
Stoknes, Per Espen. 2007. Penger og sjel. Flux forlag. Utvalgte kap. 1, 6, 8-9, 11-12
UNEP. Towards a Green Economy Report - Synthesis for Policy Makers. Kan lastes ned. http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/greeneconomyreport/tabid/29846/default.aspx
WBCSD. Vision 2050. Kan lastes ned. http://www.wbcsd.org/vision2050.aspx
Weizsacker et al. 2009. Factor Five: Transforming the Global Economy through 80% Improvements in Resource Productivity. London: Routledge
YS/WWF/Econ - Pöyry. 2012. Grønn økonomi i Norge - Hva er det og hvordan få det til?. R-2011-062. Kan lastes ned

Articles:
Chapple, Karen. 2011. Innovation in the Green Economy. Economic Development Quarterly. 02/01 Vol. 25, Issue 1. pp 5-25,
Costanza, R. 1997. The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature. 387 (6230):255
Daly, Herman. 2005. Economics in a Full World. Scientific American. Sept.
Dasgupta, Partha. 2007. Nature in Economics. Environmental and Resource Economics. Vol. 39-1
Hodgson, Geoffrey. 2007. Evolutionary and Institutional Economics as the New Mainstream?. Evol. Inst. Econ. Rev. 4(1). 7-25
Keen, Steve. 2009. Mad, bad and dangerous to know. Real-world Economics Review. Issue no. 49
Kumar. 2010. The Economics of Valuing Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity in TEEB, 2010. Chapter 5
Morgan, Gareth. 1988. Accounting as reality construction: towards a new epistemology for accounting practice. Accounting, Organizations and Society. 13(5). 477-485
Slaper and Krause. 2009. The Green Economy: What Does Green Mean?. Indiana Business Review. Fall

Recommended reading
Books:
Bakan, Joel. 2004. The Corporation. London: Constable & Robinson Ltd. Introduction and Chapter 3: The Externalizing Machine
Hahnel, Robin. Green Economics: Confronting the Ecological Crisis
Hernes, G. 2012. Hot Topic - Cold Comfort
Lovins, A et al. 2010. Natural Capitalism. Revised ed
Nordhaus, William. 2008. A Question of Balance, weighing the options on global warming policies. New Haven: Yale University Press. s. 4
NOU 2009: 16. 2009. Globale miljøutfordringer -norsk politikk. Finansdepartementet, "Olsen-utvalget"
Ries, Eric. The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses
Stern, Nicholas. 2007. The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review. London: Cambridge

Articles:
Diener, E & Seligman, M.E.P.. 2004. Beyond Money: Toward an economy of well-being. Psychological Science in the Public Interest. 5. 1-31
Green, Daryl D. 2011. Benchmarking a leadership model for the green economy. Benchmarking: An International Journal. Vol. 18, No. 3. 445-465
Randers, Jørgen. Greenhouse gas emissions per unit of value added ("GEVA") - A corporate guide towards sustainability. Ecological Economics
Spash, Clive. 2008. How Much is that Ecosystem in the Window?. Environmental Values. Vol. 17, no. 2
Vatn, A and Bromley, D. 1994. Choices without prices without apologies. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. Vol. 26 no. 2. pp. 129-148

Course outline
Module 1) The challenges of Green Growth (4 days)
-Introduction to Green Growth: Definitions, Current trends - future scenarios
-How big is the green economy in Norway, EU, globally?
-Green jobs & green growth in the main sectors: buildings, transport, energy, industry, public sector
-Defining "Green Economics" (Green vs Environmental vs. Ecological Economics)
-"Greenwashing: When is ”green” a fraud?
-Radical resource efficiency - is decoupling possible?
-Leadership and motivation in the Green Economy
-Ideology and motivation: are "sustainability" and ”profit” compatible?

Group learning process:
-Use tools to analyse how green is my job and my business? How green is our industry?
-Exploring motivation and ethics of leadership


Module 2) Green Business Innovations, (4 days)
-The innovation process in a Green Economy framework:
-Funding of green innovations: trends and pitfalls
-Entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship: from seed to growth stage – the psychological challenges
-Are "green investments" more profitable short or long-term?
-Social entrepreneurship
-Tackling Cultural and Organisational inertia: the decision-making challenge

Group learning process:
-Develop Smart Green ideas - make business models for innovations
-Identify existing elements of green strategy in own companies

-We´re considering to host this 2^nd module at an international collaboration with an entrepreneurial institution either Berlin, or in China, for instance Shanghai.


Module 3) Green Accounting for the 21st century
-Current legal requirements for green reporting and future trends
-Tools for assessing social and environmental impacts: Cost-Benefit Analysis, Life Cycle Analysis, Environmental Impact
Assessment.
-What is ”value” – and the challenges of measuring it
-New approaches in accounting: Green accounting, critical accounting
-What is natural capital? Valuing Ecosystem Services
-The Three Capitals approach
-The science of well-being and measurements of quality of life

Group learning process:
-Perform an energy audit of your company,
-Calculating Greenhouse Emission per Value Added


4) The Big Picture - and the long term future
-Understanding the next 40 years
-Climate change drivers: how serious is it?
-Earth System Science: seeing the connections in the world’s ecosystems
-Will we see a broad attitude shift in favour of green policies?
-Poverty alleviation and green economy
-Will human creativity and innovation be sufficient?

Group learning process:
Develop ”stunt” scenarios for 2050


5) Green strategies: implementing the theory in practice
-The Green executive and environmental management
-How to make a green strategy?
-Green ethics - corporate ethics
-Eco-labelling and environmental management systems (ISO etc)
-Policy strategies for enabling the transition: overcoming the obstacles (procurement, perverse subsidies, taxes etc)
-Nudging and behavioural economics for greening consumers
-Profiting on green economy in the Nordic countries

Group learning prosess: develop green business plans / projects for own companies/projects at specific strategic levels:
1) Outreach, 2) compliance, 3) greener operations, 4) supply chain, 5) product portfolio, 6) business models