Course description
Globalization, and in particular economic globalization, has important impacts on the environment that have to be considered when trying to achieve sustainable development.
This course aims at introducing the students to the concept of sustainable de-velopment in relation to globalization, with a special focus on environmental as-pects. Environmental issues have gained center-stage in economic analysis and policymaking and their urgency has opened up new opportunities in terms of technological innovation and entrepreneurship.
The course will provide students with competences and instruments for under-standing and analyzing sustainability issues from an interdisciplinary perspec-tive, and for developing solutions oriented towards the promotion of sustainable development processes at the local, national and international levels. The last part of the course will be devoted to involving the students in designing projects to promote sustainable development in Venice, allowing them to put in practice what has been learnt during the course.

Syllabus
The course focuses on environmental issues in a globalized contest within the framework of sustainable development. For this purpose the course will cover different themes, starting with an introduction to the concepts of sustainable development and globalization in relation to the environment, focusing on key topics such as biodiversity protection, climate change and Green and Circular economies. The students will be challenged to find practical solutions for sustainable development. The current pandemic and its relevance to sustainable development will be also taken into consideration

THEME I – SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AS A CONCEPT
THEME II – SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN PRACTICE: SDG12
THEME III – GLOBALIZATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT: THE CHALLENGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE (SDG13) AND BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION (SDG14)
THEME IV – SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN PRACTICE

Course organisation
The overall structure of the course and its thematic organization have been de-veloped by Ilda Mannino (TEN Program - Venice International University) in collaboration with Ignazio Musu (Ca’ Foscari University, TEN Program - Venice International University). Ilda Mannino is also the coordinator of the course.
The course is organized around different thematic areas taught by Ilda Mannino and Ignazio Musu. An expert in design thinking will assist in the development of the final group work.

Course Requirements
Students will be expected to do the required readings and to attend class regu-larly. Attendance is compulsory for all students. Required readings will be desig-nated on a weekly basis according to the themes listed in the course outline. Students will be also encouraged to find additional material for their final project by searching the internet and accessing suggested websites.
Field trips and seminars related to the course may be arranged.

Ca’ Foscari students enrolled in Bachelor degrees - Management or Economics Department can attend this course and final exam (auditors are not admitted) however they cannot include it in their “piano di studi” as this course is equivalent to a Master degree course.

As this course is considered equivalent to the course “Pianificazione Strategica e Management della Sostenibilità” and awarded 12 CFU, Ca’ Foscari Master de-gree students – Management Department must integrate the 40 hours of in-class tuition with a minimum of 40 hours in seminars, field trips and VIULEC-TURES*.

*VIULECTURES is an initiative promoted by VIU to provide a platform for inter-national and local professors to discuss key and current issues.
Participation in the VIULECTURES is compulsory and counts towards the inte-gration of 40 hours in seminars/field trips for students enrolled in Master de-grees of the Department of Management.

Evaluation methods
Module Essays – There will be a short essay requested from each student for each module – 45% of the final grade.
Final project – There will be a group research project to develop and present in a written group report and through an oral presentation in class – 45% of the fi-nal grade.
Class participation – Overall class participation, in terms of both attendance and interaction, will count for 10% of the final grade.