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  • Unit 4: Sustainability institutions: Reporting, certification, blockchain tracing, and GHG accounting scopes

    In this unit, we discuss the development and institutionalization of sustainability norms, practices, and standards. Everybody reads an empirical article that describes how sustainability reporting became a norm in the 2000s (Etzion & Ferraro, 2010). It explains how using analogies can help establish new institutional arrangements. Also, it introduces the research field of institutional entrepreneurship, which studies how individuals and organizations change institutional arrangements.

    In addition, everyone reads one of the three alternatives for discussion and reflection. Coordinate with your group who reads what so that not everyone studies the same material. In the group discussion, your task is to explain your reading to group members that have not read it. When more than one person has read the same reading, you augment each other’s explanations. Also, discuss some or all of the general guiding questions for group discussion that are listed in the course syllabus.

    Here are the three alternatives. Firstly, for reflection and discussion of technology as an enabler, we read an explanation of how RFID tags and blockchain technology can be combined to improve traceability of supply chains (European Commission DG Environment News Alert Service, 13.6.2019). Second, for reflection and discussion, we review the definitions of greenhouse gas protocol scopes 1, 2, and 3 that are used for accounting the GHG emissions of companies and how the scopes have been developed (Greenhousgasprotocol.org, 2011). Thirdly, the material includes parts of an empirical case-study article about the evolution and plurality of sustainability standards in certification market in the coffee industry and how sustainability certification standards have both collaborated and competed with each other (Reinecke, Manning, and von Hagen, 2012). Supply chains have become global and multinational corporations can self-select national regulatory systems to some degree. Consequently, one might argue that the role of intergovernmental regulation and voluntary transnational governance systems has increased relative to national regulations.

     

     

    Article (academic, media or other)

    Why this article / what part of the article

    Etzion, D., & Ferraro, F. (2010). The role of analogy in the institutionalization of sustainability reporting. Organization Science, 21(5), 1092-1107.

    Empirical article on how the reporting of financial, environmental, and social aspects became a corporate norm in the 2000s. Read the full article. (15 pages)

    "Science for Environment Policy": European Commission DG Environment News Alert Service. (13.6.2019, issue 527). Blockchain technology could improve traceability of wood through the supply chain. Based on Figorilli et al. (2018).

    For reflection and discussion. Brief description of how a combination of RFID and Blockchain technology can influence sustainability certification. (2 pages)

    Greenhousgasprotocol.org (2011). Corporate value chain (Scope 3) standard. https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/standards/Corporate-Value-Chain-Accounting-Reporing-Standard_041613_2.pdf

    For reflection and discussion. In particular, Figur 1.1 Overview of GHG Protocol scopes and emissions across the value chain on page 5. Read or skim the Introduction section of the guide on pages 2 – 9. (7 pages in total)

    Reinecke, J., Manning, S., & Von Hagen, O. (2012). The emergence of a standards market: Multiplicity of sustainability standards in the global coffee industry. Organization studies, 33(5-6), 791-814.

    For reflection and discussion. Empirical article on the emergence of a plurality of sustainability certification standards. Read only the highlighted sections: introduction, transnational governance and competing standards, the multiplicity of sustainability standards, and the market for sustainable coffee. (3 pages.)

     

     


    • Mapp icon
      Unit 4 Readings Mapp
    • Forum icon
      Unit 4 Discussion forum
    • Inlämningsuppgift icon
      Unit 4 Group discussion report Inlämningsuppgift
    • Inlämningsuppgift icon
      Unit 4 List of group discussion attendants Inlämningsuppgift
    • Turnitin Uppgift icon
      Unit 4 Individual essay Turnitin Uppgift
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Unit 5: Framing and discourse