| Detailed information |
| Original study plan |
Bachelor's programme Sustainable Polymer Engineering & Circular Economy 2024W |
| Objectives |
- To understand the need for environmental and resource management from a business perspective
- To distinguish two fundamental perspectives in environmental and resource management: the corporate and the life cycle perspective
- To explore important tools and concepts in the field of quantitative environmental and resource management, life cycle assessment, carbon footprint, material flow cost accounting and sustainability reporting as well as its linkage to quality management and lean production
- To explore major environmental challenges in polymer industries
- To broaden the perspective on corporate environmental and resource efficiency by understanding the concepts of industrial ecology and sustainability
- To understand basic terms and concepts of environmental management, quality management and resource efficiency and their importance for companies, particularly in polymer industries
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| Subject |
The following structure summarizes the seminar content, key words and major concepts are given in brackets.
- Nature, humans, and the environment
- Nature and the environment (definitions of nature, environment; ecosphere vs. technosphere)
- Humans’ impacts on our natural environment (global state of the environment; global warming, biodiversity, and further environmental impacts)
- Nature’s impact on humans (ecosystem services; human health)
- Business and the environment
- Environmental issues as moral obligation – Corporate Social Responsibility and further approaches
- Environmental issues as a duty – Environmental Management Systems and further approaches (EMS, environmental risk management, environmental regulation)
- Environmental issues as an opportunity – Resource Efficiency and further approaches (material and energy flow analysis, material flow cost accounting, resource scarcity)
- Widening the perspective: Sustainable development
- A global perspective (definition of sustainable development, sustainable development goals)
- Corporate sustainable development (corporate sustainability; business case for/of sustainability, sustainability reporting)
- Conclusion and motivation
- Seminar work – substantiation and deepening of above topics (see also section H)
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| Criteria for evaluation |
The course will be assessed on basis of
- seminar paper quality
- presentation quality
- intermediate results submitted for coaching I and II
- contribution to discussions
- quality of feedback to other presentations.
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| Methods |
The course mixes several teaching methods including
- initial lectures to provide essentials
- coached elaboration of seminar papers including obligatory web-based meeting with the lecturer
- presentation of seminar papers (group work)
- peer review and feedback on presentations.
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| Study material |
Relevant literature is provided on the seminar’s power point slides and during group coaching.
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| Changing subject? |
No |
| Further information |
Until term 2024S known as: 480BIPTCEFU24 IK Circular Economy Fundamentals
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| Corresponding lecture |
(*)WKMPMSEERQM: SE Environmental, Resource and Quality Management for Engineers (3 ECTS)
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| Earlier variants |
They also cover the requirements of the curriculum (from - to)
480MAACEFU23: IK Circular Economy Fundamentals (2023W-2024S)
480MAADERQU14: IK Environmental, Resource and Quality Management for Engineers (2014W-2023S)
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