Insights from the on-campus day of the Business Ethics course (5th semester). Photo: MCI/Waldegger
Responsible management is ingrained in the courses of Business Administration Online. During their studies, students deal with various aspects of sustainability, responsibility and ethics. In the business ethics course, students focused on the climate crisis as from a business perspective in their residency.
In the afternoon, the students engaged as negotiators at the World Climate Conference. They negotiated in the roles of parties from the United States, the EU, other industrialized nations, China, India and the countries of the global South. In two to three rounds of negotiations, the parties agreed on how they would reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, how they would contribute to preventing deforestation, and how they contribute to promoting afforestation. As with the real negotiations at COP27, the negotiations related to providing financial resources sparked tough debates. These are financing arrangements to address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change.
Commitments made by each party to reduce greenhouse gases and forest and land use are tested using the C-Roads simulator, which calculates temperature increases by the year 2100. This also helps to illustrate the impacts of the negotiating rounds. A look at the flood hazard map and likely sea level rise by 2100 shows areas at risk of flooding. The simulator also shows the share of population affected by annual flooding or, for example, the decrease in crop yields due to temperature increase.
Although the students were negotiating within the interests of their region, it is clear that only all parties working together will succeed in limiting global warming to well below 2°C by 2100. As Antonio Guterres warned, "cooperate or perish."
