ISSP Sustainability Short Course

What You Will Learn

• Hear the evolving definition of “sustainability” and its implications across key historical moments and sectors

• Introduce a few lenses for understanding sustainability concepts, with a focus on planetary boundaries

• Introduce the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

• Learn economic theories pertaining to: donut economics, the circular economy, and Triple Bottom Line

• Introduce corporate governance and social responsibility

• Introduce a few leading sustainability standards and protocols

• Meet several economists and figures from the sustainability movement

• Explore systems-thinking to bring about change to solve the world’s toughest challenges

Note from the ISSP team: The ISSP Sustainability Short Course is intended as a fundamental learning experience that anyone can benefit from, regardless of job description. To gain a more intermediate understanding of the same learning outcomes presented in the Short Course, we recommend ISSP’s Sustainability Foundations 4-hour course, which dives deeper into these themes, including on natural capital, ecological footprint, Natural Step, Gaia Theory, the UN system, leading sustainability leaders and much more.

Who is This Course For?

► Professionals wishing to gain foundational knowledge on sustainability but for whom sustainability may not be a direct work function in their job description

► Business, corporations, higher education institutions providing broad-based sustainability knowledge to their entire workforce in a quickly digestible format

► Beginning sustainability professionals working in any sector

► Students in all disciplines who may not have sustainability courses as part of their degree program

► Anyone interested in contributing to a world that can sustain healthy, livable societies

Course Description

At their core, sustainability concepts are about understanding and fostering systems — economic, social, and environmental — that can operate in perpetuity. Here is your invitation to join ISSP, the leading global network of sustainability professionals, as we present an overview of our foundations-level course to ready prospective sustainability practitioners of all backgrounds to be agents of positive change in their communities, companies, and the green workforce.

Across five self-paced modules—presented through an engaging animated slide deck and easy-to-follow narration—you’ll visit several key moments, concepts, and figures throughout sustainability’s history. Join us touring the first Earth Day and the groundbreaking environmental policies it inspired to the adoption of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, along with the evolution of economic theory to incorporate resources from a finite planet. Gain basic-level knowledge on key environmental, social and governance mechanisms organizations are using to embed sustainability in their corporate operations, government policies, and throughout society.

If you, your employees or students seek an overview spanning the founding of the United Nations System decades ago to cradle-to-cradle circularity and ESG principles driving progress today, the ISSP Short Course is for you.

Certificate

Following the successful completion of the course, students will receive a Certificate of Completion, indicating they understand the basics of sustainability concepts, frameworks used by practitioners, and the leading initiatives advancing sustainability around the world.

Holly Robbins is one of the founding faculty for the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) Master of Arts in Sustainable Design program, a purpose-built, discipline-agnostic online program intended to create the next generation of skilled creatives who will envision and design a more sustainable future. As adjunct faculty, she teaches courses on the practice of sustainable design and also authors courses for the program and ISSP. She is also a partner and co-owner in This Is Folly, an award-winning creative firm in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA and a former Target Corporation creative director.