Coursera Course Review: Sustainability Consulting: A Deep Dive into Practical Knowledge

COURSE TITLE: Sustainability Consulting

TAUGHT BY: Dr. Jonathan Tomkin, Associate Director & Research Associate Professor, School of Earth, Society, and Environment

FROM: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Essential Foundation: Data and Sustainability

Learning how to access, interpret, and present data is a core skill for sustainability professionals. Comprehensive, data-driven assessments are crucial for navigating nuanced sustainability questions with care and respect for the data.

Who Stands to Gain? A Course for Diverse Learners

Small business owners looking to integrate sustainable practices will find this course a useful starting point. Sustainability managers, consultants, and analysts will also benefit significantly. Anyone interested in sustainability and engaged in business enterprises can gain valuable insights. It might be slightly more geared towards corporate sustainability practices but it will still benefit small business owners in the way it teaches you to think about sustainability

Unpacking the Core: LCA, ESG, and EPDs

In my ongoing journey to deepen my understanding of sustainability, I've explored key concepts crucial for responsible business operations. Here are my key takeaways:

1. Building the Blueprint: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

• LCA is a systematic approach to evaluating the environmental impacts of a product or service throughout its entire life1 cycle.

• It involves four key stages:

• Defining the scope and goal.

• Conducting an inventory assessment.

• Performing an impact assessment.

• Drawing conclusions and interpretations.

• Understanding LCA is essential for identifying areas where businesses can minimize their environmental footprint.

2. Navigating Responsibility: Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)

• ESG criteria assess a company's sustainability and ethical impact.

• Key components include:

• Environmental: Impact on the environment (e.g., carbon footprint, water usage).

• Social: Impact on people (e.g., employee relations, community engagement).

• Governance: Company management and ethical practices (e.g., executive compensation, transparency).

• While ESG scores are controversial, understanding the underlying principles can help businesses identify areas for improvement. Remember Goodhart's law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." The measurement of these items can be gamed, and the scores vary widely from one rating agency to the next.

3. Communicating Impact: Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)

• EPDs provide transparent and verified information about the environmental impacts of products.

• They present key indicators such as global warming potential, water use, energy consumption, and waste generation.

• EPDs offer a standardized way to communicate environmental performance, enabling informed purchasing decisions.

Course Insights: Strengths and Areas for Growth

Where the Course Shines:

• Clarity and Accessibility: The course was thorough and easy to follow, allowing for effective note-taking. Sustainability's complexity was effectively broken down, a crucial skill for professionals.

• Learning on the Go: The course's 100% mobile compatibility offered flexible, convenient learning.

• Practical Examples: The step-by-step LCA walkthrough, including a plastic vs. fresh Christmas tree comparison, was insightful and accessible.

Opportunities for Enhancement:

• Expanding the Scope: The course could have been longer, including units on sustainability assessments and circular economy principles.

• Bridging Theory and Practice: The lack of hands-on assessments was a drawback. Supplementing this course with practical exercises or case studies is recommended.

• Balancing Corporate and Small Business Relevance: While useful for small businesses, the focus on LCAs and ESG reporting is more aligned with large corporations. However, small businesses can still benefit from the core concepts by understanding the principles and applying them to their business size.

A Clever and Insightful Approach

I found the professor to be very endearing. Professor Tomkin is clearly very studious and knowledgeable, but his wit is what I enjoyed most. His analyses were presented in clever and insightful ways that drew me into the material and the inherent systems thinking approach of sustainability work.

The information was accessible and well-organized. I often reference my notes and ponder the propositions as thought experiments in my sustainability assessments and growth consulting.

Real-World Comparisons

I very much enjoyed the comparison between one-time-use products like disposable coffee cups versus ceramic mugs and plastic Christmas trees versus real Christmas trees. These are questions I've often pondered. The course effectively explained how LCAs can help us make better sustainability choices, dispelling misconceptions about sustainability.

Real-World Application: Bridging Knowledge and Practice for Small to Mid-Sized Businesses

The knowledge gained from this course directly enhances my ability to provide insightful sustainability assessments and develop effective sustainable growth consults for small to mid-sized businesses. Understanding the core concepts of sustainability, as presented in this course, allows me to offer more comprehensive and nuanced guidance to my clients, helping them integrate sustainable practices into their operations and achieve long-term growth.

Specifically, this course strengthens my ability to deliver:

• Sustainability Assessments: The course's emphasis on data-driven analysis and understanding sustainability frameworks directly aligns with the "Sustainable Discovery & Data Gathering Session" and "Sustainability Assessment Roadmap" deliverables. This knowledge ensures I can provide clients with data-supported findings, actionable recommendations, and measurable KPIs to track their progress.

• Sustainable Growth Consulting: The course's insights into strategic sustainability planning and implementation enhance my ability to develop effective "Sustainability Growth Roadmaps." This ensures that the strategic recommendations provided to clients are grounded in sound sustainability principles and tailored to their specific growth objectives.

By applying the principles learned in this course, I can provide small to mid-sized businesses with practical, actionable, and data-driven sustainability solutions that drive both environmental and business success.

Taking the Next Step: Integrating Sustainability into Your Business

I would absolutely recommend this course to all sustainability professionals, entrepreneurs, and product development specialists. If you're a small business owner looking to implement sustainable practices and would like personalized guidance to take the principles you learned in this course and apply them to your business through a sustainability assessment or sustainable growth consult, please reach out to Purshia Peak Consulting LLC.

If you are interested in learning more about this course follow the link here