Course Syllabus

 

Nordic Sustainability Partnership

Semester & Location:	Fall 2024 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:	Elective Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:	Sustainability, Business
Co-requisites:
Faculty Members:	Adrian Owen Mongan -contact via Canvas inbox
Time & Place:	Friday 13:15 - 16:10 Classroom: F24-503

 

Course description:

The DIS Nordic Sustainability Partnership is a high-level, interdisciplinary, project-based elective, focused on students passionate about and committed to facilitating both the green transition of our economies and mitigating the effects of the environmental challenges we face. 

 To participate, you must be enrolled in at least one of the following electives: 

• Sustainable Business Strategy (Faculty: Adrian Mongan) 
• Environmental Economics (Faculty David Possen) 
• Sustainable Finance (Faculty Daniel Reece) 
• Renewable Energy Systems (Emmanuel Gentil) 

Building on knowledge from the co-requisite courses, you will work closely with DIS sustainability faculty on a real-world sustainability project for a third-party Danish commercial sponsor. This course involves the design of creative and innovative solutions to a complex challenge demanding in-depth knowledge, critical thinking, and the ability to tailor your solutions to a Danish business context. 

 Classes will be a mix of: 

• Mentoring from DIS faculty; 
• Site visits to the corporate sponsor, including initial project liaison and updates; 
• Individual class sessions tailored to a particular element of the project (e.g. aspects of strategy, sustainable finance, social entrepreneurship, etc.) 

Successful completion of the course and evaluation criteria will result in your accreditation as a DIS Sustainability Scholar and receipt of a digital badge demonstrating your achievements through the project. The digital badge can be attached to your LinkedIn profile.  

 

Nordic Sustainability Partnership Fall 2024:

Our sponsor company will be DSV A/S, one of the largest logistics and transport service providers in the world. They provide a wide range of services, including road, air, sea, and rail transport, we well as warehousing other logistics solutions. In their own words, DSV Solutions Division "aims to ensure our customers' goods are stored as best as possible and handled cost-effectively in our warehouse properties. To achieve our 2030 climate goals and lead in our green logistics solutions, we are deploying several initiatives focusing on energy efficiency, building sustainability, renewable energy production, and warehouse optimization technologies. To maximise the return on our investments and support our clients' sustainability journeys, we want to develop a new product service (Solutions CO2 Bank) to allocate emission savings achieved by implementing our green logistics solutions to our customers, associating a low-carbon footprint with the goods stored and handled at our facilities. We are currently exploring the best methodology for this concept in terms of assumptions and calculations to ensure accuracy and effectiveness"

So, the role of DIS Nordic Sustainability Partnership would be supporting and advising the Global Solutions team on the following tasks:

• Testing assumptions made in the emission savings calculation methodology.
• Ensuring calculations are as much as possible based on reliable and primary data from WMS (Warehouse Management System).
• Engaging with our Divisional and Operational sustainability teams in understanding and validating emission allocations to enhance trust and engagement around our stakeholders

At the same time, market based mechanisms on carbon allocation in its infancy right now compared to e.g. renewable energy. Especially for logistics sites, even compared to transport sector where emerging book and claim process exist, logistics & warehousing approach is not yet part of this system. Therefore as part of our commercial strategy it will be interesting to deep dive in:

• What is the outlook for market based mechanisms in carbon emissions?
• What are the existing frameworks (e.g. Smart Freight Center, SBTI and others) to understand a general approach to market-based instruments for carbon reductions when it comes to allocated emissions (insetting or book and claim) contrary to carbon credits (offsetting?
• Analyse if there is anything preventing us from consolidating emission reductions and reallocating them to the customer for logistics?
• How can DSV differentiate itself from its peers?

 

Previous semesters, students worked for organizations including:  

• Ørsted, a renewable energy company with a clear vision: to create a world that runs entirely on green energy. During the past ten years, they have transformed from a coal-intensive utility to a green energy major. The purpose of our project was to ‘stress-test’ Ørsted’s strategy around scrap steel, partnering, and development of supporting tools. (click on the Ørsted tab to get all the details on our very successful project.)
• GoodWings, an online travel management company that helps businesses calculate, reduce, and report travel emissions. Students helped GoodWings explore market opportunities from the EU taxonomy’s new reporting requirements and assessing the future of biofuels as “avoidance offsets.”  
• Outsight International, a consultancy firm providing excellence in research, strategy, facilitation, and M&E — primarily in humanitarian, environment, health and social justice settings. Students provided Outsight with research into the new European Sustainability Reporting Standards, helping them understand the changes and developing a business proposal for how to seize the market opportunity and lead the change.  

 Objectives/Skill Development: 

• Work on an advanced, interdisciplinary project, drawing on the cumulative knowledge gained from other DIS courses and the mentoring of DIS sustainability faculty; 
• Gain experience of working on a real-world sustainability project; 
• Develop your skills in professional teamwork; 
• Increase your networks both professionally and academically; 
• Think creatively, intelligently, and critically with regard to applying examples used in the classroom to the final project; 
• Prepare and deliver a convincing and innovative group project to the class, sponsors, and faculty. 

Faculty:  

Adrian Owen Mongan, Master's in Economics (International Macroeconomics), UW Madison, Wisconsin. Master's in Economics (International Trade), University College Dublin, Ireland. Worked in multinational conglomerates for over 10 years with roles as company macroeconomist, strategy director, and in strategic communication. Experienced university lecturer in international trade, macroeconomics, and microeconomics. With DIS since 2019.

Adrian Mongan is the primary faculty teaching the course.  In addition, students will work closely with other DIS sustainability faculty, who will attend the initial presentation of the project by the sponsor at the start of the semester, facilitate one or two mentoring sessions during the course of the semester as students work on the project, and participate in and provide feedback on the final student presentation at the end of the semester. 

Other DIS faculty involved are Daniel Reece, David Possen, Emmanuel Gentil, and Carl Zeithaml.  

Evaluation:  

This course is designed for students who are fully committed to delivering an advanced sponsor project, engaging in the extra work needed, and working as part of a team. Addressing a real-world challenge for the sponsor is a team effort. As a result, most of the assessment is based on team performance, requiring that all students enrolled in the course commit to a collaborative and exceptional effort.  

Course evaluation will be in the form of: 

• Group presentation on mid-project status, including a critical analysis of key issues (20%) 
• Final deliverables to project sponsor including presentation to class, faculty, and sponsor, including accompanying memorandum (30%). At the end of the project, you will deliver a project report (max 10 pages) to the sponsor, fully sourced and footnoted, following an outlined structure, as well as a business strategy for the sponsor drawing on market opportunities identified in the research and on the sponsor’s particular areas of strength. Final Sponsor Presentation: Deliver a maximum 45-minute presentation to the sponsor summarizing your key findings.
• Engagement in class, i.e. participation in class discussions/Q&A’s, active involvement in case studies and interviews, and your role in the group assignments (20%).
• Initial individual essay outlining your understanding of the project, assessment of key areas of research/development, and plans for future development of the project mandate in a group setting. (20%) 
• Living as a Nordic Sustainability Partner, a documentation of green activities you have pursued during your time in Copenhagen (10%)

Field studies & Teambuilding events: 

We will visit the sponsor location for in-depth project updates and presentations. We will also experience some inspirational visits in the Copenhagen area as well engage in sustainable teambuilding events.

Readings: 

Due to the dynamic nature of our course and project, our reading list will be updated on a week by week basis. However there are a number of inspirational texts that we encourage you to read in order to deliver your full potential on this project:

Raworth, Kate (2019) Doughnut Economics

Sinek, Simon (2017) Start with Why 

Tides of Change_A framework for Developing Just and Inclusive Green Shipping Corridors.pdf

Rockström, J. (2023). The 2023 state of the climate report: entering uncharted territory. Bioscience, 73(12), 841-850. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biad080 

European Commission (2021). Strategy for Financing the Transition to a Sustainable Economy. COM(2021) 390 final. 20 pp.  

Hutchins, G., Storm, L. (2019). Regenerative Leadership: The DNA of Life-affirming 21st Century Organizations. United Kingdom: Wordzworth Publishing. 

Thunberg, G. (2022). The Climate Book. United Kingdom: Penguin Books Limited. 

State of Green (2021). Climate partnerships for a greener future. Denmark. State of Green. 67 pp.  

Implement Consulting e-guide to Sustainability: https://implementconsultinggroup.com/what-we-do/sustainability#intro  

Tips on writing a captivating equity story: https://hecstories.fr/en/mastering-the-art-of-the-equity-story/ 

 

The Faculty

Adrian Mongan (AM) adrian.mongan@dis.dk

Emmanuel Gentil (EG) emmanuel.gentil@dis.dk 

David Possen (DP) dpo@dis.dk 

Daniel Reece (DR) daniel.reece@dis.dk