A “young” institute turns 30! Founded back in 1992, IWÖ-HSG was one of the first research institutes at a leading business school to focus on sustainability. Three decades later, concerns about climate change and biodiversity loss are at the center of the public debate, and the Institute’s contributions to research and teaching on topics of corporate sustainability and renewable energy management are in high demand. To celebrate our anniversary, we joined forces with our colleagues from the Institute of Accounting, Control and Auditing ACA-HSG, which happens to have been founded in the same year. The newly appointed tenure track assistant professor of Sustainability Governance, Dr. Judith Ströhle, shared her insights on “Current Debates in Accounting for Sustainability” with a deep dive into carbon accounting, highlighting interesting areas for future research at the interface of both institutes. Thanks to the many alumni, team members, business and research partners, and university representatives who joined for an evening full of insightful exchanges.

Dr. Fabian Takacs joined the Delegates Team for Responsibility and Sustainability as a Project Manager (Sustainability Curriculum Development) and post-doctoral researcher of the IWÖ. Fabian is passionate about environmental protection and sustainability. His research focuses on the Circular Economy and business model innovation, focusing on the entrepreneurial implementation of resource conservation and closed material loops.

Fabian works at the team of the Delegate for Responsibility and Sustainability on realizing the HSG vision and Roadmap 2025 supporting the implementation of sustainability in the curriculum at HSG. In addition, he continues to research the Circular Economy’s entrepreneurial implementation with various academic and practice partners.

Previously, Fabian worked at the Institute of Management and Strategy (IfB) at the University of St. Gallen and conducted research in an SNF research project (Laboratory for Applied Circular Economy, NRP73), for which work he received the HSG-Impact Award in 2020. Fabian holds a Ph.D. in Management (Ph.D. HSG) focusing on circular transformation through business model innovation and ecosystems. Fabian is also involved in various non-profit organizations, among others, in local culture promotion.

Katharina Reidl and Juliane Seika joined the Chair of Management of Renewable Energies

With the start of the new semester, Katharina and Juliane have started as doctoral candidates after finishing their master’s degrees in Business Management and Marketing Management at the University of St.Gallen.

Being alumni of the certificate program Managing Climate Solutions (MaCS), both are looking forward to contributing to the institute’s research about electro mobility within the CircuBAT project and investigating options for a Green Deal for Switzerland and Ukraine.

Kerrigan joined IWÖ as a post-doctoral research fellow through the Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS) Project. She recently obtained her Ph.D. in Strategic Management and Public Policy at the George Washington University (Washington, DC) under the supervision of Professor Jorge Rivera. Kerrigan’s research broadly focuses the interconnectedness between business and the natural environment. More specifically, she examines the relationship between biophysical conditions, such as climate change, extreme weather, and biodiversity, and business performance and adaptation strategies. Kerrigan obtained a Graduate Certificate in Geographical Information Systems and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from George Washington University. She also has experience working with environmental nonprofits in areas on water quality, invasive species, and biodiversity of native species.

In August 2022, Judith Stroehle has joined the Institute for Economy and the Environment (IWOe) and the Institute for Accounting, Control and Auditing (ACA) at the University of St Gallen as Assistant Professor of Sustainability Governance. Judith is passionate about building bridges between sustainability and accounting, challenging the status quo of measurement, reporting, and performance management. Her recent work explores issues related to the measurement of corporate purpose, the benefits and challenges of non-financial accounting, ESG stewardship, and the role of standards and regulation in this space.

Previously, Judith was a Senior Research Fellow at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford where she co-founded and led the Oxford Rethinking Performance Initiative in 2021 and the Oxford Impact Roundtable for sustainability reporting and accounting in 2018. Judith holds a doctoral degree (PhD Europeaus, U Milan) in Economic Sociology for which she examined the auditability of social standards in global supply chains in cooperation with the International Labour Office (ILO). Judith also engages and works with several non-profits, companies and asset managers. She recently served as the Global Future Council Fellow for SDG Investing at the World Economic Forum and works as an academic advisor to the Bertelsmann Foundation in Germany and the Codespa Foundation in Spain.

Die Schweizerische Botschaft lädt gemeinsam mit dem Weiterbildungsprogramm «Renewable Energy Management» der Universität St.Gallen sowie dem Schweizer Technologiekonzern Meyer Burger (Solarzellen), zu einer Diskussionsrunde ein. Im Fokus stehen die Themen Solarenergie und Lieferketten , mit einem speziellen Akzent auf die industriepolitische Komponente und das Comeback der Photovoltaik-Produktion in Europa.

Erneuerbare Energien und deren Ausbau haben in den vergangenen Monaten weiter massiv an Bedeutung gewonnen. Nicht nur stark steigende Strompreise, sondern auch die Auswirkungen der Erderwärmung und der Krieg in der Ukraine sorgen für einen Bewusstseinswandel. Schnelle und gleichzeitig nachhaltige Lösungen in Bezug auf Energiesicherheit und Klimaneutralität sind gefragt. Darüber wollen wir in einem Fachpanel in ausgewählter Runde zur Mittagszeit sprechen.

Datum:   Freitag, 2. September 2022, 11:15 – 13:30 Uhr
Ort:        Residenz der Schweizerischen Botschaft, Otto-von-Bismarck-Allee 4, 10557 Berlin (Eingang Altbau)

Moderation: Dr. Melinda Crane

• Stefan Wenzel, MdB – Parlamentarischer Staatssekretär, Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz
• Dr. Gerd Lippold – Staatssekretär für Energie, Klimaschutz, Umwelt und Landwirtschaft, Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Energie, Klimaschutz, Umwelt und Landwirtschaft
• Walburga Hemetsberger – CEO, Solar Power Europe
• Dr. Gunter Erfurt – CEO, Meyer Burger
• Prof.Dr. Rolf Wüstenhagen – Professor of Management of Renewable Energies, Universität St.Gallen

Die Veranstaltung wird in deutscher Sprache durchgeführt. Eine Simultanübersetzung auf Englisch ist auf Anfrage verfügbar.

Anmeldung bis spätestens 25.08.2022 unter berlin.wirtschaft@eda.admin.ch. Die Plätze sind begrenzt, die Anmeldungen werden nach Eingangsdatum berücksichtigt. Eine Anmeldebestätigung wird ca. eine Woche vor der Veranstaltung verschickt.

The Chair of Sustainability Management is offering a new executive education program in collaboration with the Competence Center for Social Innovation (CSI-HSG). The program equips leaders and managers with key sustainability knowledge while leveraging an agile mindset, skills and tools. Participants gain key knowledge in the field of corporate sustainability management, including driving trends, challenges and opportunities, climate solutions, biodiversity regeneration, social impact creation, circular economy business models and sustainability governance.

The programme consists of four in-person days at the University of St. Gallen, divided into four modules. These include an introduction to sustainability, the business case for sustainability, managing sustainability and ESG, and leading sustainability.

“Sustainability Management for Business Excellence” brings you up-to-date on the field of sustainability management, providing a powerful foundation from which to develop and implement practical and impact-focused sustainability strategies.

Understanding the social acceptance of renewable energies: Insights into the EU project “MISTRAL”

Many projects to promote renewable energies fail due to the resistance of the local population. The EU has therefore launched a programme called MISTRAL, which aims to support young researchers who are dedicated to the social acceptance of such projects. MISTRAL was supported by the EU’s Horizon 2020 funding programme. The University of St.Gallen also participated in the project and supervised three young researchers in their studies. Two of them give an insight into their findings in the video.

Link to the MISTRAL project: https://mistral-itn.eu/

Die soziale Akzeptanz von erneuerbaren Energien verstehen: Einblicke in das EU-Projekt «MISTRAL» Viele Projekte zur Förderung erneuerbarer Energien scheitern am Widerstand der lokalen Bevölkerung. Die EU hat deswegen ein Programm namens MISTRAL aufgegleist, das Nachwuchsforschende fördern soll, die sich der sozialen Akzeptanz solcher Projekte widmen. MISTRAL wurde durch das EU-Förderprogramm Horizon 2020 unterstützt. Auch die Universität St.Gallen nahm am Projekt teil und hat drei Nachwuchsforschende bei dementsprechenden Studien betreut. Zwei von Ihnen geben im Video Einblick in ihre Erkenntnisse.