1Corporate Sustainability Management
The Environmental Business Challenge
Week 2
APG5122
1
Reminders
Questions:
- Check Moodle first
- Ask in class or use Forums tab on Moodle
Workshops:
- Complete online lesson and readings ahead of class
- Only attend your allocated workshop
Timetabling
- Please contact timetable support or monash connect if you have any
timetable/enrolment issues
Workshop activities & etiquette
2
2Workshop Etiquette
Punctuality & Deadlines:
• Be on time to avoid disrupting the workshop.
• A penalty applies to assignments that are late without an extension or special consideration.
Respect & Active Listening
• Everyone in the workshop has the right to voice their opinions. Debates and differences are
expected and should be respectful.
• Please give everyone a chance to speak and provide your full attention to the speaker.
• Please act as you would during a business meeting (no personal or side conversations).
Participation & Engagement
• Active engagement and participation in open discussions and group work is expected.
• Everyone is expected contribute equally in the group assessment.
3
Agenda
- Environmental issues
- Implications of issues for business
- IPAT
- Assessment guides
4
Any Questions from online material?
3Activity 1: Environmental Issues
15 minutesGroups
- What environmental issues is society facing?
- What do these mean for business?
o How does business impact these issues?
o How is business impacted by these issues?
o Think about the threats and opportunities to business
- Consider differences in industries, country-context
Draw on your online lesson, readings and experience
5
Environmental Issues
According to the OECD, by 2050 it is predicted that without action:
Energy and land use: 80% more energy needed
Climate change: Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions projected to increase by
50%. GHG could reach 685 parts per million (ppm) C02 equivalents in the
atmosphere – increasing temperatures, mean sea-level rise, floods, drought intensity
Biodiversity: Terrestrial biodiversity to decrease by a further 10%. Mature forest
areas to shrink by 13%.
Water: Global water demand to increase by 55% - largely due to growing demand
from manufacturing (+400%). 40% of the global population projected to be living in
river basins under water stress
Health and environment: Air pollution to be top environmental cause of premature
mortality – surpassing lack of sanitation and dirty water.
Did you know?
Nearly half of all of
Australia’s direct emissions
(47.6%) came from just 10
companies and their assets.
6
4The Great Acceleration
Earth system trends
Source: Steffen et al., (2015) 7
The Anthropocene
8
5Implications
Increasing disaster losses
from changing weather
patterns
Stranded assets Assets uninsurable:
Increased costs to protect
assets
Increased regulation Shareholder and
stakeholder pressure and
boycotts
Directors held personally
liable for inaction
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Activity 2: IPAT
10 minutesGroups
What are the implications of IPAT for business?
• Increasing population
• Increasing consumption
• The type of technology business uses
Tip: You may like to give examples from different countries or industries
Draw on your online lesson, readings and experience
10
6IPAT Recap
Population
1.5 times as many people on
the planet in 2050. Need
50% more food, water,
resources.
Affluence
E.g., household consumption
expenditure has increased
every year since 1960 in
Australia (except in
2019/20).
Technology
E.g., need to keep 60-80% of
fossil fuels already listed on
world stock exchange in the
ground to avoid warming of
2 degrees (stranded assets).
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IPAT extension: Rethinking global population trends
“... the world’s population will peak in the mid-2080s, growing over the next sixty years from
8.2 billion people in 2024 to around 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s, and then will return to around
10.2 billion by the end of the century.”
– World Population Prospects 2024
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2024/07/press-release-wpp2024/# 12
Population size, general
7World Population Prospects 2024
Rethinking global population trends
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5 minutes
“One in four people globally lives in a country whose
population has already peaked in size.
Countries with youthful populations and declining fertility
have a limited time to benefit economically from an
increasing concentration of population in the working ages.
By 2080, persons aged 65 or older will outnumber children
under 18.”
What does it mean for corporate sustainability
management?
esp, How can impact/cope with?
Countries/industries
Groups
How will population change affect the global economy? A study
Rethinking global population trends:
implications
Manson and Lee’s (2022) estimates of economic flows by age combined with population
projections show that in the coming decades:
• global GDP growth could be slower by about 1 percentage point per year, declining more
sharply than population growth
• GDP will shift toward sub-Saharan Africa more than population trends suggest
• living standards of working-age adults may be squeezed by high spending on children and
seniors;
• changing population age distribution will raise living standards in many lower-income
nations;
• changing economic life cycles will amplify the economic effects of population aging in many
higher income economies
• population aging will likely push public debt, private assets, and perhaps productivity higher.
Population change will have profound implications for national, regional, and global economies.
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8Collaborative reading via
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Please go to Moodle:
At3-1 links under: Assessment
Note:
• To ensure proper grading – always access Perusall via a specific Moodle
assessment link
Assessment Instructions and Rubrics are under:
Learning > Additional information and resources (might have minor edits –
will keep you informed in class before any due dates)
Questions?
16
9Next Week: Social Sustainability
Complete AT1-1 before your Week 3 workshop
(Moodle: Assessments)
Ensure you are prepared to join related in-class discussions – will
help you better complete the 1st reflective writing (AT1-2) by Wed
Week 4
Think about:
• What is their view on the role/purpose
of business?
• What are some of their assumptions?
• What are their perspectives on
corporate social responsibility?

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