GE 420 Applied Sustainable Business Development

GE 420 treats sustainability as a business discipline rather than an environmental cause, teaching you to evaluate corporate decisions through the triple bottom line (people, planet, profit) and to see how public policy, market forces, and stakeholder pressure actually shape what firms can do. The work is reading- and discussion-heavy: four case studies, a presentation, two written exams, and steady in-class participation where you argue through real trade-offs like carbon footprints, green-office initiatives, and ESG investment calls. As a GE elective open across faculties, it gives engineering and science students the vocabulary to talk credibly with managers and policymakers, and frames why "backcasting" from a sustainability vision is becoming standard practice in industry.