Certificate in Sustainable Development

Course Overview

You have certainly already encountered the term sustainable development. You see it in newspapers, in political discussions and today even in advertisements. It became well known after the United Nations Conference in Rio de Janeiro, 1992. As this was just at the end of the Cold War the nations of the world were unusually united: both East and West, industrialized and developing nations took part. Since then sustainable development has increasingly become common vocabulary.

Sustainable development is different from many other concepts as it is so all-inclusive. It includes everything from personal ideas and perceptions, to technical development and political programs. It is based on knowledge, which partly is age-old, e.g. in agriculture, and partly completely new, such as new technologies and social and economic arrangements. As a knowledge-based undertaking sustainable development is based on a systems approach.

One refers to the dimensions of sustainable development as ecological, social and economic, which all are interdependent and all need to be included. That makes sustainability as a topic of study challenging. In at least some areas, we are all beginners. It also opens up for dialogue and different views and opinions.

Course Objectives

By the end of this module participants should be able to:

• Define sustainable development.
• Identify and understand the social aspects of sustainable development.
• Understand the concepts of vulnerability and resilience.
• Appreciate the usefulness of risk assessment in disaster management and in climate change
• Understand the risk associated with overdependence of non-renewable Energy.
• Understand the SDGs

Course Content

• Introduction to Sustainable Development
• What is Sustainable Development
• Underlying themes on Sustainable Development
• Challenges to Sustainable Development
• Energy and Sustainable Development
• SDGs
• Climate Change
• Urbanization
• Opportunities to foster Sustainable Development.

Assignments

In order to demonstrate their understanding of the course content, students will be required to submit three assignments.

Course duration: 3 months
Course fee: €500
Regions targeted: Global

Training format:

All materials are made available through our online learning platform

Language: English and French