The University of Oklahoma
College of Liberal Studies
1610 Asp Ave Ste 108, Norman, OK 73072
Phone: 405-325-1061/800-522-4389 Fax: 405-325-7132
LSTD 5904/5943 Climate Change. Corporations, and Strategies
Course Goals and Structure
As the nations of the world move toward finding solutions to the risks and hazards posed by global climate change, businesses and corporations have begun to design and deploy comparable strategies and adjustments. Facing such a long-term risk to conventional enterprise, the private sector has become increasingly active in developing strategies to resolve the potentially disruptive issues associated with the expected changes brought about by nature, new laws, and changing social values. This seminar addresses the strategies developed by leading corporations that recognize the importance of climate change, and provides the student with an opportunity to review and discuss several case studies of corporate responses.
There are two required texts for students to read. The first text, Green to Gold: How Smart Companies use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage, provides a context in which students can understand the challenges and opportunities that environmental quality poses for business. The second course text is publicly available from the Pew Climate Center website. It is entitled, Getting ahead of the Curve: Corporate Strategies that Address Climate Change.
The first three-day weekend of the seminar will focus on Andrew Hoffman’s assessment of how corporations can respond to climate change in eight separate steps. The second three-day weekend will delve into six case studies of corporate response to climate change and provide the student with an opportunity to discuss the relative merits of each case. Students should read Green to Gold before they read Getting Ahead of the Curve in order to attain some perspectives on the wisdom of the actions that individual corporations have and are planning to take. Students should have read and be familiar with both texts prior to class. While oriented toward business, this seminar would be useful to anyone who has an interest in how organizations can cope with large-scale environmental change.
For student reference, I am also listing several Webs ites (in addition to the Pew Climate website) and Internet-based papers that provide additional information that students might find useful for preparing for the seminar:
- General information on global warming and climate change
- “Can Congress Govern the Climate?” by Barry Rabe (April 2007):
- “Global Warming: Who Loses – And Who Wins?” by Gregg Easterbrook. Atlantic Monthly, April 2007):
For student reference, I have attached a post-seminar assignment that is due within one week after the end of the seminar (February 10, 2008). This assignment is based on what you will have learned in the seminar and asks you to use that knowledge to analyze the cases studies in Getting Ahead of the Curve along the lines of the author’s 8-part climate change strategy.
Green to Gold: How Smart Companies use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage by Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston, Yale University Press. 2006. 366 pages. There will be a short quiz given to students on the contents of this book during the first hour of the first weekend session, so please be prepared.
Getting Ahead of the Curve: Corporate Strategies that Address Climate Change by Andrew J. Hoffman, Pew Center on Global Climate Change. 2006. 138 pages. Publicly accessible (free) here. There will be a short quiz given to students in the contents of this boo during the first hour of the second weekend session.
Subject Matter Expert
Mark Meo, Ph.D.
Web site Design and Development
Catherine Kerley, 2007
