Business and Climate Change

Module title	Business and Climate Change
Module code	MBAM859
Academic year	2025/6
Credits	10
Module staff	Professor Steffen Boehm (Convenor)

Duration: Term	1	2	3
Duration: Weeks			1

Number students taking module (anticipated)	10

Module description

We will discuss the paradoxical role of business and climate change, addressing the following questions: How does climate change affect business? How can businesses develop climate change strategies? How can business potentially benefit from climate change? How do carbon markets work, and what are their limits and potential? Why do we find it so difficult to adopt less carbon intensive lifestyles? What is the role of technology? What are the ethical issues that climate change raises? What are the responsibilities of business? How does business (and society at large) adapt to climate change? This module will address such questions, exploring the relationship between business and one of the, if not THE, most important question of our time.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The aim of this module is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between business and climate change, discussing the negative impact of businesses and their potential contribution to reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases. Students will gain academic and practical literacy in the climate change domain, understanding the political context that can shape companies’ environmental behaviour as well as issues relevant to business managers, policy makers, NGO activists and citizen-consumers.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

1. Apply analysis to policy options for addressing climate change
2. Compare and evaluate different policies and strategic options, and determine their effects on the behaviour and performance of firms
3. Discuss the behavioural issues associated with carbon reduction
4. Explain the political economy associated with climate change

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

5. Discuss the ethical dimensions of climate change and the extent to which ethical values can be effectively adopted by consumers and companies, and incorporated into government policies

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

6. Develop capacity for critical thought and reasoned discussion
7. Develop skills for addressing complex problems
8. Develop written and verbal communication skills.

Syllabus plan

Indicative content of the module (subject to evolution as the discipline develops):

Introduction to Climate Change and its Science
Carbon Markets Opportunities and Limits
Changing Behaviours for a Changing Climate?
The role of technology
Climate Change and Company Strategy
Climate Change Adaptation
Climate Change and Ethical Issues
Economic Futures: Path dependencies and alternatives.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
30	70	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching	30	Lectures, in-class activities & guests
Guided Independent Study	70	Reading, Research, Writing

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
In class discussions	3 hours	1-8	Peer feedback
Short written case analyses - in groups	2 x daily assignments each of 500 words	1-8	Written feedback on every assignment the morning after

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
100	0	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Essay	50	2000 words	1-8	Written, within normal feedback timescale
Individual presentations and Q&A	50	15 minutes per person	6-8	Oral & written feedback after the presentation

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Essay (2000 words, 50%)	Essay (2000 words, 50%)	1-8	Next re-assessment window
Individual presentation and Q&A (15 minutes, 50%)	Individual presentation (15 minutes, 50%)	6-8	Next re-assessment window

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Module reading will be from a variety of sources with many made available through the Module website. Each lecture has a mandatory reading list and a complementary one.

The following books, are references that can support the majority of the topics covered in this module.

Wright, C., & Nyberg, D. (2015). Climate Change, Capitalism, and Corporations: Processes of Creative Self-Destruction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139939676
Bansal, P. and Hoffman, A. (2011) The Oxford Handbook of Business and the Natural Environment Oxford: OUP (available online from the Forum Library)
Gardiner, S.M. (2011) A Perfect Moral Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change. Oxford University Press. (available online from the Forum Library)
Hulme, M. (Ed.). (2019). Contemporary Climate Change Debates: A Student Primer. Routledge.
Pinkse, J and Kolk, A. (2009) International Business and Global Climate Change London : Routledge. (available online from the Forum Library)
Stern, N. (2007) The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Also available from: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/sternreview_index.htm

Key words search

Climate change, net-zero, business strategy, environment.

Credit value	10
Module ECTS	5
Module pre-requisites	None
Module co-requisites	None
NQF level (module)	7
Available as distance learning?	No
Origin date	12/10/2025
Last revision date	12/10/2025