Sustainable Business and Climate Strategy

About this course

GPS 404: Sustainable Business and Climate Strategy How firms translate climate science and economics into emissions targets, transition plans, and competitive advantage. You will work through carbon accounting, decarbonization pathways, circularity, and sustainable finance using Solara Foods' scope 1–3 footprint.

This is global business and policy for practitioners, not theory for its own sake. You will move from frameworks to evidence tables, stakeholder maps, and executive memos that survive finance, operations, and public affairs scrutiny.

Anchor company: Solara Foods, a multinational packaged foods company selling dairy alternatives, protein snacks, beverage concentrates, and cooking staples across retail, food service, and e-commerce. Revenue $3.1B, 42 markets, leadership including Amara Osei (Chief Sustainability Officer) and Omar Haddad (Global Policy VP).

Prerequisites: AIS 301: AI and Sustainability. Length: 6 weeks. Assessment: 40% applied project, 35% knowledge checks, 25% reflections.

What you will be able to do

By the end of GPS 404, you should be able to:

• Connect climate science and economics to material business risks and opportunities
• Build emissions inventories and science-based targets with transparent boundaries
• Design transition strategies that reconcile growth with decarbonization
• Evaluate circularity, nature, and resource productivity investments
• Navigate sustainable finance instruments and disclosure regimes
• Implement climate governance that links metrics to capital allocation

How the course is organized

Six units, 24 lessons (four per unit). Work in order; each lesson includes Solara worked examples, practice problems with solutions, and managerial reads.

Unit	Topic	Lessons	You will
1	Climate Science, Economics, And Material Business Risk	4	Apply TCFD risk taxonomy to Solara decisions
2	Emissions Accounting, Boundaries, And Science-based Targets	4	Apply GHG Protocol scopes to Solara decisions
3	Transition Strategy, Abatement Levers, And Decarbonization Pathways	4	Apply marginal abatement cost curve to Solara decisions
4	Circularity, Nature, And Resource Productivity	4	Apply circularity loops to Solara decisions
5	Sustainable Finance, Disclosure, And Investor Expectations	4	Apply green versus sustainability-linked loans to Solara decisions
6	Implementation, Climate Governance, And Competitive Advantage	4	Apply climate governance matrix to Solara decisions

How to study

1. Read lessons sequentially. Early units supply vocabulary and frames; later units stress-test the same choices under uncertainty and scale.
2. Do practice problems without peeking. Policy and sustainability decisions need numeric reconciliation and explicit kill criteria.
3. Carry one decision through the course. Use Prioritize climate risks for capital planning and supplier contracts as a thread for your applied project.
4. Complete unit assessments after all four lessons in that unit. Knowledge checks test application, not definition recall.

Applied work

Across GPS 404 you will build portfolio pieces that compound:

• Scope 1–3 emissions inventory with data quality flags
• Decarbonization roadmap with abatement cost curve
• Circularity pilot business case for packaging redesign
• CSRD-aligned disclosure outline with governance mapping

What comes next

AIS 301: AI and Sustainability supplies strategic context; GPS 405: Social Enterprise and Impact Measurement continues the Global Business/Policy/Sustainability pathway. CAP 600: Program Capstone Studio integrates global policy evidence into your final recommendation.