US Business Schools Failing on Climate Change

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Byย Nancy E. Landrum, Loyola Universityย Chicago

Coca-Cola and Nestlรฉ have recently closed facilities, and Starbucks is bracing for a global shortage of coffee โ€” all due to effects from climate change. Climate change impacts every resource used by businesses: from agriculture, water, land and energy to workers and the economy. No business will be untouched. The Conversation

As a researcher and professor of business management, I have found that sustainable business courses across the U.S. do not align with the scientific consensus that we need radical change to avert disastrous consequences of climateย change.

These future business leaders are not being prepared for the climate change challenges their companies are certain toย face.

Sustainability inย Business

The worldโ€™s climate scientists have determined that our best chance to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change is to keep rising global temperatures to no more than 2 degrees Celsius. They also determined that the world needs dramatic reductions in greenhouse gases to hit thatย goal.

California, for instance, has imposed stringent laws on clean air, vehicle emissions and energy efficiency standards. The state also mandated a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. California has proven that reductions are possible โ€” while maintaining a healthy economy.

In the U.S. and worldwide, business and industry are the primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions โ€” contributing anywhere from 6 percent for buildings to 25 percent for electricity production globally.

Reducing carbon emissions is the most common sustainability goal for companies. Many companies do this by becoming more energy efficient and reducing waste. But, as a whole, corporate sustainability efforts are best described as business as usual, with only small gradual improvements being made. Businesses are simply failing to grasp the deep change that isย needed.

There is a huge gap between the path we are on and where the science shows we need to be. The 2015 Paris Agreement outlined an international agreement to keep the average global temperature increase within 2 degrees Celsius. To achieve this, science tells us that we need to restrict total emissions to no more than one trillion metric tons, a reduction of 49 to 72 percent globally from 2010 levels. The U.S. agreed to a 26 to 28 percent national reduction of emissions by 2025. By some estimates, the U.S. must double its current efforts to reach thatย target.

Companies need to work within this scientific โ€œcarbon budget.โ€ There is, indeed, a small group of businesses setting ambitious targets that are consistent with the science.

For instance, Coca-Cola and Dell have both agreed to a 50 percent reduction within their companies by 2020, and NRG Energy has committed to a 90 percent reduction by 2050. By contrast, 90 percent of Wal-Martโ€™s environmental impact exists in its supply chain. So, one of Wal-Martโ€™s goals is to use its expertise to work with suppliers to reduce their emissions by one billion tons between 2015 and 2030. This is more than a 4,000 percent increase over their prior target of 22 million tons between 2010 andย 2015.

These bold reduction goals have not yet been adopted by the vast majority ofย businesses.

Sustainability Education in U.S. Businessย Schools

The lukewarm corporate commitment to sustainability is, perhaps, unsurprising. One contributing factor may be the way in which corporate leaders are trained in businessย schools.

Although sustainability is a growing theme in business school curricula, itโ€™s still relatively new โ€” and relatively uncommon. Business schools have been slow to change and adapt.

For our research, we studied 51 of the hundreds of business programs in the U.S. We found that when an introductory sustainable business course is offered, it often remains an elective in the business school curriculum. Only a few business schools offer minors, majors, certificates or graduate degrees in sustainability management or sustainableย business.

The 51 schools in our study are actually at the forefront of training students in environmental sustainability โ€” that is, compared to the majority of business schools, which do not offer sustainability coursework at all. What we found is that even these schools are doing a poor job of preparing their students for theย future.

We analyzed the reading lists of 81 introductory sustainable business courses, which resulted in a final list of 88 different readings. Since sustainability is still an emerging discipline in business education, we found limited overlap in the readings or authors assigned to students. Across the syllabi, there was only 20 percent overlap in readings โ€” very little consensus as to what should actually beย taught.

We also found that the majority, or 55 percent, of sustainability readings assigned to business students took a weak sustainability position. The readings take a business-as-usual approach that makes small gradual improvements, pointing to examples such as the printing ink industryโ€™s move to soy- and water-based inks. This supports a โ€œdo less badโ€ approach to sustainability, a far cry from what science tells us isย needed.

The readings communicated two reasons for adopting sustainability practices: either the business benefits of sustainability (i.e., increased innovation, competitiveness and profitability) or the need to do what is required by law (i.e., meeting labor, emissions or pollution regulations).

Only 29 percent of the readings assigned in our study acknowledged the scientific need for adopting sustainabilityย practices.

Preparing Future U.S. Business Leaders inย Sustainability

Even if we stop or reduce greenhouse gas emissions, global temperatures will continue to rise for 100 or more years due to carbon dioxide emissions already in the atmosphere. Todayโ€™s business students who will be tomorrowโ€™s business leaders are guaranteed to face sustainabilityย challenges.

Future business leaders must be equipped with the scientific understanding of how climate change is currently impacting business, how it will impact business in the future and the profound change that is required of business andย industry.

Professors of these courses should assign readings that communicate the scientific need for businesses to operate in a more sustainable way to address climate change. Such readings should note that โ€œsubstantial changesโ€ in policies, institutions and practices areย required.

Such education can help shift the focus and motivation for corporate sustainability away from legal compliance and corporate profit toward a need to repair the environment and live in balance with the naturalย world.

Nancy E. Landrumย is Professor of Sustainable Business Management atย Loyola University Chicago.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Main image:ย When the environment and businesses meet, who will make sure one doesnโ€™t suffer at the hands of the other? Credit:ย Lukas / Pexels, FAL

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