Course description
Globalization, in particular economic globalization, has important impacts on the environment that have to be considered in order to achieve sustainable development.
The course aims at introducing the students to sustainable development concept in relation to globalization, with a special focus on environmental aspects. Environmental issues have gained center-stage in economic analysis and policy-making and their urgency has opened new opportunities in terms of technological innovation and entrepreneurship.
Through an interdisciplinary perspective, the course will provide students with competences and instruments for the understanding and analysis of sustainability issues and for the development of solutions oriented towards the promotion of sustainable development processes both at a local, national and international level. The last part of the course will be devoted to engage the students in designing projects to promote sustainable development in Venice, allowing to put in practice what has been learnt during the course.

Introduction and objectives
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 from the introduction of the concepts of sustainable development and globalization in relation to the environment, exploring then the new concept of Green and Circular Economy, going into depth on climate change and energy issue.

THEME I – Sustainable Development Concept
THEME II – Sustainable Development in Practice: SDG12
THEME III – Globalization and the Environment: the Challenge of Climate Change (SDG13) and Clean Energy (SDG7)
THEME IV – Practice Sustainable Development

Course organisation and supervision
The overall structure of the course and its thematic organisation have been developed 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 coordinator of the course.
The course is organised around different thematic areas taught by Ilda Mannino and Ignazio Musu.

Course Requirements
Students will be expected to do the required readings and to attend class regularly. Attendance is compulsory for all students. Required readings will be designated 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 can be arranged

Course evaluation
Module Essays – There will be a short essay requested to each student for each module – 55% of the final grade.
Final project – There will be a group research project to develop, to present in a written group report and through an oral presentation in class – 35% of the final grade.
Class participation – Overall class participation, in terms of both attendance and interaction, will count for 10% of the final grade.

Syllabus

Week 0 – Orientation Week - February 17-21

Thursday, February 20 - Opening Ceremony

THEME I – INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT

Week 1 – February 24-28

Tuesday, 25 February
Introduction to the Sustainable Development Concept
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program, Venice International University)

Required Readings: Book Ecological Economics, by Michael Common and Sigrid Stagl, Chapter 4; UN (1992), Rio Declaration.

Thursday, 27 February
Introduction to the Sustainable Development Concept part 2
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Required Readings: Book Ecological Economics, by Michael Common and Sigrid Stagl, Chapter 10: 10.1 and 10.4; UN (1992)

Week 2 – March 3-7

Tuesday, March 4
Development of the SD concept: Rio 92 and the Rio Declaration
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Thursday, March 6
The Millennium Development Goals and Johannesburg Summit
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Required Readings: http://www.undp.org/mdg/; http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/reports.shtml, The Millennium Declaration; http://unsdsn.org/; UN 2012, The future we want.

To be read before the next class: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/sustainabledevelopmentgoals

Required Readings:
Choose one SDG for the discussion discuss in class

Week 3 – March 10-14

Tuesday, March 11
Rio+20 and the SDGs

Readings:
Reid A.J. et al. (2017). Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals still neglecting their environmental roots in the Anthropocene, Environmental Science and Policy 77, pp 179–184.
Lomborg B. (2017). The Mis-Measure of Development;
Latouche S. (2003). Sustainable development as a paradox. Symposium Baltic Sea 2003.

Thursday, March 13
SDGs in depth: presentations by the students

Readings:
Naidoo R. & Fisher B. (2020). Sustainable Development Goals: pandemic reset, Na-ture, Vol 583.
Strand R., Kovacic Z., Funtowicz S., Benini, L., Jesus, A. (2021). Growth without eco-nomic growth, EEA Brief.

Week 4 – March 17-21

Tuesday, March 18

SDGs in depth: presentations by the students – part II

Readings:
Robra B., Heikkurinen P. (2019). Degrowth and the Sustainable Development Goals, Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Suggested readings: Font Vivanco D., McDowall W., Freire-González J., Kempd R., van der Voet E. (2016). The foundations of the environmental rebound effect and its contribution towards a general framework, Ecological Economics, 125, pp. 60–69.

Thursday, March 20
Strengths and Weaknesses of SDGs and alternative views
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Readings:
Steffen W., Richardson K., Rockström J., Cornell S. E., Fetzer I., Bennett E. M., Biggs R., Carpenter S. R., de Vries W., de Wit C. A., Folke C., Gerten D., Heinke J., Mace G. M., Persson L. M., Ramanathan V., Reyers B., Sörlin S. (2015). Planetary bounda-ries: Guiding human development on a changing planet, Science 347 (6223), doi: 10.1126/science.1259855
Naidoo R., Fisher B. (2020). Sustainable Development Goals: pandemic reset, Na-ture, Vol. 583.

Johan Rockström | Planetary boundaries: scientific advances | Frontiers Forum Live 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KfWGAjJAsM&list=PLpCH1XIO3lYtRELTupGHOfrbylNlPhPKR&index=7

Suggested readings:
Latouche S. (2003). Sustainable Development as a Paradox.

THEME II – SDGs AND THE ENVIRONMENT: THE CHALLENGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE (SDG13), ENERGY TRANSITION (SDG7) AND BIODIVERSITY (SDG 14 & 15)

Week 5 – March 24-28

Tuesday, March 25
Economic globalization and the Environment I
Prof. Ignazio Musu (Ca’ Foscari University and TEN Program, Venice International University)

Readings: Jonathan Harris, Brian Roach, Environmental and Natural Resource Eco-nomics, Routledge, fifth edition, 2023, chapters 2, 3, 8.

Thursday, March 27
Economic globalization and the Environment II
Prof. Ignazio Musu (Ca’ Foscari University and TEN Program, Venice International University)

Readings: Jonathan Harris, Brian Roach, Environmental and Natural Resource Eco-nomics, Routledge, fifth edition, 2023, chapter 11; Daniel Yergin, The New Map, Penguin Books, 2022

Week 6 – March 31-4 April

Tuesday, April 1
Economic globalization and the Environment III: Scenarios of Climate Change
Prof. Ignazio Musu (Ca’ Foscari University and TEN Program, Venice International University)

Required Readings: N. Stern, Why are we waiting?, MIT Press, 2015, ch.7-9, World Energy Outlook, International Energy Agency, October 2023

Thursday, April 3

Economic globalization and the Environment IV: Dealing with the energy crisis and climate change.
Prof. Ignazio Musu (Ca’ Foscari University and TEN Program, Venice International University)

Suggested Readings: W. Nordhaus, The Spirit of Green, Princeton University Press, 2012, ch.22-23; Jonathan Harris, Brian Roach, Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Routledge, fifth edition, 2023, chapters 12-13.

THEME III – SDGs AND THE ENVIRONMENT: SUSTAINABLE CONSUMP-TION AND PRODUCTION (SDG12)

Week 7 – April 7-11

Tuesday, April 8
Focus on SDGs 12: Introduction to Green Economy Concept and Ideas
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Required Readings: Lifset R. & Graedel T.E. (2002). Industrial ecology: goals and definitions in A handbook of industrial ecology, Robert U. Ayres, Leslie Ayres (eds.); Georgeson L., Maslin M. and Poessinouw M. (2017). The global green economy: a review of concepts, definitions, measurement methodologies and
their interactions. In Geography and Environment, 2017, 4 (1), e00036.

Suggested readings: Font Vivanco D., McDowall W., Freire-González J., Kempd R., van der Voet E. (2016). The foundations of the environmental rebound effect and its contribution towards a general framework, Ecological Economics, 125, pp. 60–69.

Thursday, April 10
Focus on SDGs 12: Implementing the Life Cycle Thinking: Eco-design and LCA
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Required Readings: Rebitzer G. et al. (2004). Life cycle assessment Part 1: Frame-work, goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, and applications, Environment International 30 (2004) 701 – 720; Science direct (2017), Life Cycle Assessment pa-pers abstracts.

Suggested Reading: Wen, Z., Xie, Y., Chen, M. et al. China’s plastic import ban in-creases prospects of environmental impact mitigation of plastic waste trade flow worldwide. Nat Commun 12, 425 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20741-9

Week 8 – April 14-18

Tuesday, April 15
Focus on SDGs 12: Drivers for Greening the industry
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)
Required Readings: Lifset R. (1993). Take it back: Extended Producer Responsibility as a Form of Incentive-based Environmental Policy, Journal of Recource Management and Technology, Vol. 21 n.4; Jackson T. (2005). Live Better by Consuming Less? Is There a “Double Dividend” in Sustainable Consumption?”, Journal of Industrial Ecolo-gy, Vol. 9, n. 1–2.

Thursday, April 17
Focus on SDGs 12: Green Economy Drivers: Sustainable Consumption

Required Readings: Lifset R. (2005). Moving from Products to Services, Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 4, n. 1; Geissdoerfer M., Savaget P., Bocken N. M.P., Hultink E. J. (2017). The Circular Economy: A new sustainability paradigm?, Journal of Cleaner Production 143 (2017), pp. 757-768.

Lamberton C. (2016). Collaborative consumption: a goal-based framework, Current Opinion in Psychology 2016, 10:55–59.

Suggested readings: Guldmann E. (2016). Best Practice Examples of Circular Busi-ness Model.

Mid-term break April 21 - 25

THEME IV – SUSTAINABILITY IN PRACTICE: VENICE CASE STUDY

Week 9 – April 28-May 2

Tuesday, April 29
Introduction to the Group Project

Thursday, May 1
National holiday

Week 10 – May 5-9

Tuesday, May 6
Definition of Sustainability Issues in Venice: Work in class

Thursday, May 8
Choose and analyse the challenge to tackle: Work in class

Friday, May 9 (tbc) Reschedule class
Analyse the challenge to tackle and develop the HMW question: Work in class

Week 11 – May 12-16

Tuesday, May 13
Idea generation for solutions: Work in class

Thursday, May 15
Ideation: define the solution - Work in class

Week 12 – May 19-23

Tuesday, May 20
Developing and testing the solutions through a pilot: Work in class

Thursday, May 22
Developing and testing the solutions through a pilot: Work in class

Submission group project report due by Sunday May 25

Week 13 (exam week) – May 26-30

Presentation of Students’ group project

Site visits:
Ocean Space
the Venice Lagoon

Bibliography
Common M., Stagl S. (2005). Ecological Economics.
Font Vivanco D., McDowall W., Freire-González J., Kempd R., van der Voet E. (2016). The foundations of the environmental rebound effect and its contribution towards a general framework, Ecological Economics, 125, pp. 60–69.
Georgeson L., Maslin M. and Poessinouw M. (2017). The global green economy: a review of concepts, definitions, measurement methodologies and their interactions. In Geography and Environment, 2017, 4 (1), e00036.
Guldmann E. (2016). Best Practice Examples of Circular Business Model.
Harris J., Roach B. (2023). Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Routledge, fifth edition, 2023.
Lamberton C. (2016). Collaborative consumption: a goal-based framework, Current Opinion in Psychology 2016, 10:55–59.
Latouche S. (2003). Sustainable Development as a Paradox.
Lifset R. & Graedel T.E. (2002). Industrial ecology: goals and definitions in A handbook of industrial ecology, Robert U. Ayres, Leslie Ayres (eds.)
Lifset R. (1993). Take it back: Extended Producer Responsibility as a Form of Incentive-based Environmental Policy, Journal of Recource Management and Technology, Vol. 21 n.4; Jackson T. (2005). Live Better by Consuming Less? Is There a “Double Dividend” in Sustainable Consumption?”, Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 9, n. 1–2.
Lifset R. (2005). Moving from Products to Services, Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 4, n. 1; Geissdoerfer M., Savaget P., Bocken N. M.P., Hultink E. J. (2017). The Circular Economy: A new sustainability paradigm?, Journal of Cleaner Production 143 (2017), pp. 757-768.
Naidoo R. & Fisher B. (2020). Sustainable Development Goals: pandemic reset, Nature, Vol 583.
Nordhaus W. (2023). The Spirit of Green, Princeton University Press, 2012, ch.22-23; Jonathan Harris, Brian Roach, Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Routledge, fifth edition, 2023.
Rebitzer G. et al. (2004). Life cycle assessment Part 1: Framework, goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, and applications, Environment International 30 (2004) 701 – 720; Science direct (2017), Life Cycle Assessment papers abstracts.
Robra B., Heikkurinen P. (2019). Degrowth and the Sustainable Development Goals, Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Rockström J. (2023). Planetary boundaries: scientific advances. Frontiers Forum Live 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KfWGAjJAsM&list=PLpCH1XIO3lYtRELTupGHOfrbylNlPhPKR&index=7
Steffen W., Richardson K., Rockström J., Cornell S. E., Fetzer I., Bennett E. M., Biggs R., Carpenter S. R., de Vries W., de Wit C. A., Folke C., Gerten D., Heinke J., Mace G. M., Persson L. M., Ramanathan V., Reyers B., Sörlin S. (2015). Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet, Science 347 (6223), doi: 10.1126/science.1259855
Stern N. (2023). Why are we waiting?, MIT Press, 2015, ch.7-9, World Energy Outlook, International Energy Agency, October 2023
Strand R., Kovacic Z., Funtowicz S., Benini, L., Jesus, A. (2021). Growth without economic growth, EEA Brief.
UN (2012). The future we want.
Wen, Z., Xie, Y., Chen, M. et al. China’s plastic import ban increases prospects of environmental impact mitigation of plastic waste trade flow worldwide. Nat Commun 12, 425 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20741-9

Last updated: January 10, 2025