Dynamics of Business in the Anthropocene

Period 2 specialization course // MSc SSPS // Coordinator: Dr Clarence Bluntz

We know what to do to prevent planetary destruction. Yet we have been unable to act on this knowledge.

The pursuit of infinite growth is the holy grail of business and government. Economic growth is directly correlated with environmental impacts and tends to increase inequalities. We know the relentless pursuit of growth is not a great idea, yet policies and strategies are fixated on it. In the middle of the hustle, we cannot really see.

What matters is the system of production and consumption, not what a single company does.

Mainstream sustainability education focuses on individual companies or consumer choices. Carbon-neutral sneakers are useless if the fast-fashion system keeps churning out clothes. Biofuels in airplanes serve no purpose if flying volume keeps increasing.

A provisioning system is a set of related elements—stocks and flows, actors, governments, policies, social norms—that work together to satisfy human needs. Understanding how these elements connect is essential to grasp why our current mode of production is destroying the planet.

Think about systemic transitions. Change comes from unexpected places and is hard to predict.

At the end of this course, I want you to envision businesses, organizations, individuals, and governments as interconnected actors of a system. Social and environmental impacts emerge from systems dynamics that are impossible to predict from individual behaviors.

It makes no sense to fixate on the sustainability performance of a single business or consumer. Just as most of us won't stop flying voluntarily, businesses won't stop maximizing profit. Change requires systemic transitions.