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2023/2024

Corporate Social Responsibility

Code: 43059 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
4313784 Interdisciplinary Studies in Environmental, Economic and Social Sustainability OT 0 1

Contact

Name:
Maria Rosa Rovira Val
Email:
mariarosa.rovira@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.

Teachers

Isabel Pont Castejón

Prerequisites

 


Objectives and Contextualisation

The course aims to introduce students to key topics of sustainability in the field of organizations (mainly companies): Corporate social responsibility (CSR), climate change, circular economy, European Green Deal, 8th 2030 environmental action program of the European Union.


Competences

  • Analyse, summarise, organise and plan projects related to the environmental improvement of product, processes and services.
  • Apply knowledge of environmental and ecological economics to the analysis and interpretation of environmental problem areas.
  • Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously.
  • Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
  • Work in an international, multidisciplinary context.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse best practices in corporate social responsibility.
  2. Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  3. Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously.
  4. Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
  5. Know the main concepts, regulations and international initiatives concerning the different dimensions of corporate social responsibility (economic, environmental, social, corporate governance).
  6. Work in an international, multidisciplinary context.

Content

The course is divided in two parts:

 Corporate Social Responsability (CSR). Adaptation to climate change and to circular economy 
  • Introduction. CSR and the organisation's strategy 
  • CSR tools & tools for sustainable production and consumption, adaptation to climate change and circular economy.
  • Corporate sustainability reporting: The Global Reporting Iniciative (GRI) standard & European Union Directive

European environmental law 

  • Begining and development of the enviornmental law of the European Union: principles and legal basis 
  • Instruments and policies. The European Green Deal. The 8th Environmental Action Programme 2030
  • Main actors in the European Union. The role of the European Union, the States, the Autonomous Communities andLocal Administrations 
  • Harmonization, execution and implementation. Let’s approach some sectorial elements as climate change, circular economy ..

Methodology

 The teaching methodology and evaluation may undergo some changes depending on the restrictions on attendance imposed by the health authorities

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Exercise in class 4 0.16 1, 5, 4, 2, 3, 6
Lectures 29 1.16 5, 6
Type: Supervised      
Tutorial 30 1.2 3
Type: Autonomous      
Reading articles, books and studying for each of the given lectures 64 2.56 1, 5, 4, 3
Short essay writing, which involves reading the necessary academic literature 20 0.8 1, 5, 4, 2, 3

Assessment

This module does not offer Single Assessment, as agreed with the coordination of the degree and with the Dean's Office of the Faculty of Sciences.
The student will be evaluated separately for each of the two parts of the course based on:
i) the knowledge obtained at the end of the course regarding the proposed academic literature and the other topics and aspects worked during the sessions;
ii) his/her brief written submissions and his/her capacity for critical analysis, and
iii) Active participation in the sessions.

 
Details:
 
One or two brief writings of 500-1000 words for each part of the course. The teacher will evaluate the writing according to her/his own criteria. The student could ask for details on his/her mark with the corresponding teacher.
 
The final exam covers most of the topics worked during the sessions. The space for the answers will be limited and these will have to demonstrate the understanding and mastery of the main concepts and ideas provided during the course. The corresponding teacher will assess them according to her/his own criteria. The student could ask for details on his/her grade with the corresponding teacher.
 


Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Final exam 50% 3 0.12 1, 5, 4, 2
Participation in class 25% 0 0 1, 5, 4, 2, 6
Short essay writings 25% 0 0 1, 5, 4, 2, 3

Bibliography

Bibliography Corporate Social Responsibility/ Responsabilitat Social Corporativa/ Responsabilidad Social Corporativa

Directive (EU) 2022/2464 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 amending Regulation (EU) No 537/2014, Directive 2004/109/EC, Directive 2006/43/EC and Directive 2013/34/EU, as regards corporate sustainability reporting (Text with EEA relevance). 

BENN, SUZANNE and BOLTON DIANNE (2011) Key concepts in corporate social responsibility, SAGE, Los Angeles (Calif.)

CRANE, A. et al. (2008) The Oxford Handboook of Corporate Social Responsibility,  Oxford University Press Inc., New York

CRANE, A. and Matten, D. (2016) Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization, Oxford University Press Inc., Newe York  

EUROPEAN UNION (2014) Corporate social responsibility: national public policies in the European Union. Compendium 2014 / European Commission. Directorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs, Luxembourg: Publication Office of the European Union ISBN 978-92-79-38875-0 – doi:10.2767/27405 (online)

HABISCH, ANDRÉ et al. (2005), Corporate social responsibility across Europe, Springer Berlin, Heidelberg (electronic format)

OKPARA, JOHN O. and IDOWU, SAMUEL O. (2013) Corporate social responsibility: challenges, opportunities and strategies for 21st century leaders, Springer Berlin, Heidelberg

YIN, R.K. Case study research and applications: Design and methods. Sage publications, 2018

 

Bibliography European Environmental law/ Dret Ambiental Europeu / Derecho Ambiental Europeo

BADGER, Ch;  and MACRORY, R. Environment Act 2021: Text, Guide and Analysis.   Hart Publishing; Bloomsbury Publishing, 1st Edition, 2022

CLÉMENT, Marc. Droit européen de l'environnement.Jurisprudence commentée, ed, Larcie, 4ème édition 2021

DE SADELEER Nicolas. EU environmental law and the internal market. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014

FAJARDO,Teresa.  La política exterior de la Uión Europea en materia ambiental, Tecnos, 2005

-JANS, Jan ; Hans H.B. Vedder; European Environmental Law, Europa law Publishing ( Fourth Edition) 2012

JUSTE RUIZ, J., CASTILLO DAUDÍ,M., la protección del medio ambiente en el ámbito internacional y en laUnión europea, Tirant lo Blanc, Valencia, 2014

HAIGH, Nigel, EU Environmental Policy:Its jouney to Centre Stage. 2016.

Kingston, Suzanne; Heyvaert Veerle; Čavoški , Aleksandra - European Environmental Law, Cambridge University Press 2017

-KISS, Alexandre., SHELTON, Dinah., A Guide to International Environmental Law, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007

- KRAMER, Ludwig. EU Environmental Law, Sweet and Maxwell, 8th ed. 2016

-KRAMER, Ludwig Environmental Justice and European Union Law,Croatian Yearbook of European Law and Policy 16 , December 2020, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348484000_Environmental_Justice_and_European_Union_Law

-LEE, Maria; EU Environmental Law, Governance and Decision-Making, 2nd Ed. 2014

MACRORY (2014),Regulation, Enforcement and Governance of Environmental Law, 2nd edition HartPublishing, Oxford

MACRORY et al. (2004), Principles of European Environmental Law. Europa Law Publishing.

-SANDS, Philippe. PEEL Jacqueline, Principlesof International Environmental Law, Cambridge University Press, 4d  Ed., Manchester/N.Y., 20182nd Edition: https://www.academia.edu/37547219/Philippe_Sands_Principles_of_Int_Environmental_Law

THORNTON, James; GOODMAN, Martin, CLIENT EARTH 2017. Scribe Publications (May 11, 2017)

-VAN CARLSTER, Geert, EU Environmental Law, Elgar European Law series, 2017

 

Webgraphy of a general nature useful for our course/Webgrafia de caire general especialment útil per aquest curs/Webgrafia de carácter general útil para nuestro curso

Generalitat de Catalunya, Environment, Business and sustainable production, https://mediambient.gencat.cat/ca/05_ambits_dactuacio/empresa_i_produccio_sostenible/

Official website European Union http://europa.eu/index_en.htm

Training Package on Principles of EU Environmental Law http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/law/principles.htm

Official Journal of the European Union http://eur-lex.europa.eu/oj/direct-access.html?locale=en

Summaries of the European environmental and climate change legislation https://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/chapter/20.html

European Commission (Environment) : https://ec.europa.eu/environment/index_en.htm

EU Environmenal Law Training Package. https://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/law/training_package.htm

https://ieep.eu/understanding-the-eu/manual-of-european-environmental-policy

European Environment Agency  http://www.eea.europa.eu

European Court of Human rights  http://hudoc.echr.coe.int

Council of Europe. “Manual on human rights and the environment"; Council of Europe Publishing 2012, http://www.echr.coe.int/LibraryDocs/DH_DEV_Manual_Environment_Eng.pdf

IEEP ( Institut for European Environmental Policy) https://ieep.eu/

EEB (European Environamental Bureau) https://eeb.org


Software

No