Climate Change and Sustainable Business Futures (11318.2)

Please note these are the 2023 details for this unit
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Climate Change and Sustainable Business Futures
Available teaching periods Delivery mode Location
View teaching periods On-campus
Online
 Bruce, Canberra
St Leonards, NSW
EFTSL Credit points Faculty
0.125 3 Faculty Of Business, Government & Law
Discipline Study level HECS Bands
Canberra Business School Level 2 - Undergraduate Intermediate Unit Band 2 2021 (Commenced After 1 Jan 2021)
Band 3 2021 (Commenced Before 1 Jan 2021)
Climate change is a contested and significant contemporary issue contributing to and arising from business relationships and interactions with the natural, social and financial worlds. This unit provides students with an understanding of climate change and the development of sustainable futures for business in Australia and
globally. The Unit examines recent policy, planning and management responses to climate change, including individual enterprise initiatives and forms of government intervention designed to achieve sustainable businesses.

Learning outcomes

After successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of the concept of sustainable business;
2. Understand and critically assess the inter-relationships between businesses and their natural, social, cultural and economic environments and how these affect business's sustainable futures;
3. Understand and analyse the implications of climate change for business in Australia and globally; and
4. Evaluate planning and management strategies, policies and industry practices designed to mitigate and / or adapt to climate change and thus to produce more sustainable futures.


Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - communicate effectively
1. UC graduates are professional - display initiative and drive, and use their organisation skills to plan and manage their workload
1. UC graduates are professional - employ up-to-date and relevant knowledge and skills
1. UC graduates are professional - use creativity, critical thinking, analysis and research skills to solve theoretical and real-world problems
1. UC graduates are professional - work collaboratively as part of a team, negotiate, and resolve conflict
2. UC graduates are global citizens - communicate effectively in diverse cultural and social settings
2. UC graduates are global citizens - think globally about issues in their profession
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - adapt to complexity, ambiguity and change by being flexible and keen to engage with new ideas
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - reflect on their own practice, updating and adapting their knowledge and skills for continual professional and academic development
4. UC graduates are able to demonstrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing - use Indigenous histories and traditional ecological knowledge to develop and augment understanding of their discipline


Prerequisites

Completion of 24 credit points.

Corequisites

None.

Incompatible units

None.

Equivalent units

9469 Climate Change and Sustainable Business Futures.

Assumed knowledge

None.
Year Location Teaching period Teaching start date Delivery mode Unit convener
2024 Bruce, Canberra Semester 1 05 February 2024 On-campus Dr Brian Weir
2024 Bruce, Canberra Semester 1 05 February 2024 Online Dr Brian Weir
2024 St Leonards, NSW Semester 1 05 February 2024 On-campus Dr Brian Weir
Not available

Required texts

Textbook

There is no textbook for this Unit, but two useful books are:

Moscardo, G. et al. (2013) (eds.) Sustainability in Australian Business: Principles and Practice.   John Wiley and Sons: Milton, Qld.

  • There are several copies in the library available on short loan, and some chapters are available through the Canvas website.

Stead, J.G & Stead, W.E (2009) Management for a Small Planet. Third Edition. Greenleaf Publishing: Shefield, UK

Readings

This list includes the specific sources referred to in presentations and materials, but also includes a selection of other useful sources.  Don't feel to have to read all of these materials, but I hope you will find items of interest to spark your curiosity and encourage you to read more widely on climate change, and climate change and business.

Arnocky S., Milfont T. L. & Nicol J. R. (2014) Time perspective and sustainable behavior: Evidence for the distinction between consideration of immediate and future consequences. Environment and Behavior 46(5), 556 - 82.

Australian Academy of Science (2015) The Science of Climate Change.  Australian Academy of Science: Canberra, Australia.

Barnes J, & Dove M.R. (Eds.) (2015) Climate Cultures: Anthropological Perspectives on Climate Change. Yale University Press: New Haven, USA.

Bolin, B. (2007) A History of the Science & Politics of Climate Change; The Role of the IPCC.  Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK.

Christoff, P. (Ed.) (2014) Four Degrees of Global Warming: Australia in a Hot World. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxford, UK.

CSIRO & BOM (2022) State of the Climate Report 2022.  CSIRO & BOM: Canberra, Australia.

Doyle (2022) BOM and the CSIRO State of the Climate 2022 report shows warming trends continue. Accessed at: abc.net.au/news/state-of-the-climate-report-2022-bom-csiro/101683628.

Eagle L., Low S., Case P. & Vandommele L. (2015) Attitudes of undergraduate business students toward sustainability issues.  International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 16(5), 650 - 68.

Entwisle T. J. (2014) Sprinter and Sprummer: Australia's Changing Seasons. CSIRO: Collingwwod, Australia.

Gautier, C. & Fellous, J-L. (2008) Facing Climate Change Together. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK.

George D. A. (2018) Research priorities and best pracrice for managing climate risk and climate change adaptation in Australian agriculture.  Australiaian Journal of Environmental Management. doi: 10.1080/14486563.2018.1506948.

Gergis, J. (2018) Sunburnt Country: The History and Future of Climate Change in Australia.  Melbourne University Press, Melbourne: Australia.

Golden D. M., Auder C. & Smith M. A. (Peggy) (2015) 'Blue ice': Framing climate change and reframing climate change adaptation from the Indigenous peoples' perspective in the northern boreal forest of Ontario, Canada. Climate and Development 7(5), 401 - 13.

Green D., Billy J. & Tapim A. (2010) Indigenous Australians' knowledge of weather and climate. Climate Change. doi: 10.1007/s1054-010-9803-z.

Harrington S. (2020) By paying attention, tribes in the Norhwoods are leading the way on climate change. Yale Climate Connections 16, 567 - 71.

Hulme, M. (2015) The many uses of climate change. In: Barnes J. & Dove  M.R. (Eds.) Climate Cultures: Anthropological Perspectives on Climate Change. Yale University Press: New Haven, USA. pp 289 - 301.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2019) Climate Change & Land. Summary for Policymakers. IPCC: Geneva, Switzerland.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2022) Climate Change 2022: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 

Ivanova M. (2020) Everyone, everywhere: The challenge of climate change.  Nature 579(7797) p 468

Jakku et al. (2016) Learning the hard way: A case study of an attempt at agricultural transformation in response to climate change. Climate Change 137, 557 - 74

Linnenluke M. K., Griffiths A. & Winn M. L. (2013) Firm and industry adaptation to climate change: A review of climate adaptation studies in the business and management field.  WIREs Climate Change 4, 397 - 416.

Machin, A. (2013) Negotiating Climate Change: Radical Democracy and the Illusion of Consensus.  Zed Book: London

Makower J. (2020) What does 'climate risk' actually mean? Greenbiz 31 Aug 2020. Accessed at: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/what-does-climate-risk-actually-mean?

Markey R., McIvor J., O'Brien M. & Wright C. F. (2021) Triggering business responses to climate policy in Australia. Australian Journal of Management 46(2), 248 - 71.

McKinsey Global Institute (2020) Reduced dividends on natural capital? McKinsey Global Institute: NY, USA.

McKinsey & Company (2020) McKinsey on Climate Change.  McKinsey: New York, USA.

McKinsey & Company (2020) The Next Normal: Doubling Down on Sustainability.  McKinsey: New York, USA.

Measham, T. & Lockie, S. (Eds.) (2012) Risk and Social Theory in Environmental Management.  CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood, Vic

Mustonen T, Harper S, Pecl G, Broto VC, Lansbury N, Okem A, Ayanlade A, Dawson J, Harris P, Feodoroff P, McGregor D (2022) Cross-chapter box INDIG: the role of indigenous knowledge and local knowledge in understanding and adapting to climate change. In: IPCC, 2022: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the sixth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Oreskes, N. & Conway, E.M. (2010) Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. Bloomsbury Press: NY

Oreskes, N. & Conway, E.M. (2014) The Collapse of Western Civilisation: A View from the Future.  Columbia University Press: New York, USA

Patterson, T., Bastianoni, S. & Simpson, M. (2006) Tourism & climate change: Two-way street or vicious /  virtuous circle? Journal of Sustainable Tourism 14(4), 339 - 48.

Paulson, H.M. (2015) Short-termism and the threat from climate change. McKinsey & Company: New York, USA

Pelling, M. (2011) Adaptation to Climate Change.  Routledge: London

Pinkse, J. & Gasbarro, F. (2016) Managing physical impacts of climate change: An attentional perspective on corporate adaptation.  Business & Society 1 - 36

Rickards, I.& Howden, R. (2012) Transformational adaptation: Agriculture and climate change. Crop & Pasture Science 63, 240 - 50

Romalello M. et al. (2021) The 2021 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: Code red for a healthy future. Lancet. doi.org/10.1016/50140-6736(21)01787-6.

Stones, P.E. (2015) What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Global Warming.  Chelsea Green Publishing: White RiverJunction, USA.

Sun Chemicals (2018) Going Beyond Environmental Claims. Sun Chemicals: Northside, USA.

Supran G. & Oreskes N. (2021) Rhetoric and frame analysis of ExxonMobil's climate change communications. One Earth 4(5), 696 - 719.

Global Change Research Program (2009) Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science. Global Change Research Program: Washington, USA.

Walker, B. (2019) Finding Resilience: Change and Uncertainty in Nature and Society. CSIRO Press: Canberra, Australia.

Weaver et al. (2013) Improving the contribution of climate model information to decision-making: The value and demands of robust decision frameworks. WIREs Climate Change 4, 39 - 60

Weir, B. & Mummery, J. (2018) Business perceptions and responses to climate change and adaptation: Evidence from a case study of the Canberra Region. Paper presented at the CA18 Climate Adaptation Conference, Canberra ACT, July 2018.

World Health Organisation (2017) Climate Change and Health. World Health Organisation: Geneva: Switzerland

Whetton, P., Karoly, D., Watterson, I., Webb, L., Drost, F., Kirono, D. & McInness, K. (2014) Australia's climate in a four degree world. In Christoff, P. (Ed.) Four Degrees of Global Warming: Australia in Hot World. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxford, UK.  pp 17 - 32

Wright, C. & Nyberg, D. (2015) Climate Change, Capitalism and Corporations.  Cambridge University Press: Cambridge: UK

Submission of assessment items

Extensions & Late submissions

All assignments are to be submitted via individual assignment drop boxes on the Unit Canvas site.  

Special assessment requirements

To pass this Unit, students must BOTH:

  • Attempt each assessment item; AND
  • Achieve an overall score of 50% or more.

Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at UC. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

UC students have to complete the annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

UC uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and University of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Participation requirements

Assessment item 2 - Developing sustainable business futures - Weekly student activity worksheets is undertaken in tutorials.  Students must attend the relevant tutorial for their student activity worksheet for that week to be marked.

Work placement, internships or practicums

None

Additional information

All written work is to follow the BGL Good Essay Guide requirements.

A copy of the Guide is available on the Unit Canvas site.