Task Description:
This course focuses on innovation in response to climate change. Students will have a range of options to choose from to match/ align with their strengths and capabilities. This assessment consists of a single long-form (5,000 words) research report that demonstrates the student’s critical capacities, intellectual initiative, writing skills, and ability to develop a consistent, coherent, and independent response to topic consistent with the course aims and objectives.
Course Aims
1. Give students exposure to some of the significant issues facing organisations and communities resulting from global environmental change, specifically climate change and natural resource scarcity.
2. Give students an understanding of climate policy developments and the effectiveness of policy responses.
3. Introduce students to the concepts and tools associated with greenhouse gas / carbon emission and energy auditing, as well as greenhouse gas management.
4. Give students an understanding of the need for innovative responses by organisations and means of driving change.
5. Develop pragmatic scenarios to develop effective adaptation, resilience and response strategies of organisations.
Learning Objectives
1 Understand the range of challenges organisations are facing resulting from changing environmental conditions
2 Discuss and evaluate the strengths and limitations of policy developments
3 Understand the rational and process for undertaking a greenhouse gas / carbon emission and energy audit
4 Be able to use a framework to help identify the innovation and response needs of an organisation
5 Use strategic thinking to develop innovative and frame breaking responses to the issues associated with sustainability and climate change
Please pick ONE of the following topics.
A) Research report on the risks and opportunities associated with climate change and adaptation
This assessment option will require you to work on a case study of a company in a vulnerable industry sector (e.g., transportation, reinsurance, energy, tourism, agriculture). Overseas examples are fine to use, however, you need to make sure that you have sufficient access to materials. There is no need to conduct interviews with the company, but in case you would like to do a short interview with someone within the company, please come and talk to me about ethical clearance.
Your assessment should answer the following questions:
• Why should companies adapt?
• What impacts and type(s) of change should companies prepare for, given that climate change is surrounded by much uncertainty regarding the timing and location of impacts?
• Drawing on your case study, what actions has the company undertaken (alternatively: what could be options for actions?). What are the implications for the company in regards to providing and maintaining a competitive advantage? These should be critically discussed.
B) Research report on energy transitions
Energy transitions to sustainability received much interest in politics and science. This assessment option will require you to work on a country (or industry) case of an energy transition from traditional sources of energy to renewable/alternative energy sources. Overseas examples are also fine to use for this question (e.g., European examples such as the “Energiewende”), however, you need to make sure that you have sufficient access to materials. There is no need to conduct any interviews, but in case you would like to do so, please come and talk to me about ethical clearance.
Your assessment should answer the following questions:
• How did the energy regime develop historically? Who were the main actors?
• What interventions/strategies brought about change? What factors (political, organizational, legislative) were driving these developments? How did they change the existing energy regime and actors?
• What conclusions can be drawn in regards to the implications for the country (or industry) that you analyse? What are the risks? What are the opportunities? How transferable are the ‘lessons learned’ to a different context? These issues should be critically discussed.
Please follow the marking template and answer all the questions for the chosen topic.
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