University of Notre Dame
ER-5: Sustainability Course Identification

At the University of Notre Dame, sustainability is defined as an ethical approach to conserving the natural environment, while promoting long-term economic and social justice for all members of society. Sustainability-focused courses concentrate on the concept of sustainability, including its social, economic, and environmental dimensions, or examine an issue or topic using sustainability as a lens. Sustainability-related courses incorporate sustainability as a distinct course component or module, or concentrate on a single sustainability principle or issue.

This definition was developed by a committee of four professors, three graduate students, and the director of the energy center: Sandra Collins, Assistant Professor Psychology; Thomas Frecka, Professor of Accountancy; Ante Glavas, Assistant Professor Management; Bill Nichols, Professor of Accountancy; Patrick M. Murphy, Managing Director of the Center for Sustainable Energy at Notre Dame; Matt Frey, Graduate Student; Jeff Harer, Graduate Student; Kevin Richards, Graduate Students. Expanding on the university’s definition of sustainability, necessary criteria were developed for a course to be sustainability focused or related. Criteria applicable to sustainability-focused and sustainability-related courses: •The course must explore the challenges and potential solutions to achieving sustainability •The course must cover the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability Criteria specific to sustainability-related courses: •The course must allocate at least 25% of its assessment (through tests and assignments, discussions and/or readings) on two or more of the listed sustainability criteria Criteria specific to sustainability-focused courses: •The course must allocate at least 75% of its assessment (through tests and assignments, discussions and/or readings) on two or more of the listed sustainability criteria The sustainability “criteria” referenced are listed below: •Sustainability as a concept: the history, politics, culture, and science underlying sustainable development and sustainability •Natural limits: the role of human actions in relation to finite capacity of natural ecosystems (including the global ecosystem) to absorb throughput of matter and energy from the human economy •Maintaining ecosystems: natural resource conservation science and practices to maintain the integrity of ecosystems in the face of rising human demands •Business and economics: Re-shaping market conditions to address “market failures” with respect to the environment and to provide incentives for businesses and economic systems to better maintain the integrity of ecosystems •Reporting and disclosure: the role of mandatory and voluntary reporting of economic, environmental and social performance of organizations, addressing operational and strategic risks associated with corporate responsibility and sustainability through implementation, testing, and monitoring of processes and controls associated with the related KPIs or reported data (10K, Sustainability Reports, AICPA, IAASN, AA1000AS, GRI, GHG, ISO, STARS, SEI etc…) •Social capacity: the social factors that support behavioral shifts (including but not limited to economic choices) necessary to enable and encourage societies to live in ways compatible with maintaining the long-term integrity of ecosystems •Social equity: The mutual interactions between social inequality and environmental degradation, including theories of social reforms required to ensure an environmentally healthy and socially just society. •Sustainability discourse: the framing and discussion of sustainability in the media, politics, and everyday life. •Culture, religion, and ethics: how culture, religion, and ethics – from consumerism to environmental stewardship – shape human behavior toward the natural world. •Governance: how legal frameworks and policies shape human behavior toward the natural world. •Science and Technology: the role of basic science and technology (broadly and individual technologies) specifically in influencing human impacts on the natural world. •Planning and design: concepts and techniques from urban, regional, and rural planning and/or building design and/or product design that can influence human impacts on the environment and environmental impacts on humans. •Sustainability science: the new field of sustainability science that specifically attempts to build interdisciplinary perspectives from the themes (and related academic disciplines) listed about to promote human-environmental balance.