The kick-off of the 10th edition of our Executive Education Programme in Renewable Energy Management (REM-HSG) is only a few weeks away.

We will start with Module 1 on March 15, 2021 – again with an interesting group of movers and shakers in the field of renewable energies, who will ultimately be enriching our alumni network of over 150 people.

Our 10th anniversary could not come at a more interesting time:  We are witnessing a unique momentum for #renewableenergy and #climateprotection developing around the world to #buildbetter. With our exceptional faculty, we will embark on a collective learning journey together, with inputs and coaching from academic faculty and high-level executives.

Can’t wait to get involved yourself? Contact REM-HSG Programme Manager Pascal Vuichard (pascal.vuichard@unisg.ch) today to find out how you can join the community.

Dr. Florian Weise from Ongava Research Centre in Namibia and affiliated scholar at our institute since 2019 will be teaching a new contextual studies course “Wildlife, Business, and People” during the spring semester of 2021.  Dr. Weise is an expert on wildlife management, conservation biology and animal behavior. He has worked extensively on human-wildlife interactions throughout sub-Saharan Africa over the last 15 years, with a main focus on large predators and conflict mitigation. He has a special interest in innovative coexistence concepts that intertwine expertise from different professional disciplines. His work puts emphasis on developing applied solutions, many of which have been featured in media such as National Geographic, Africa Geographic, Financial Times London and on TV. Dr Weise has a keen interest in trans-disciplinary approaches; he collaborates widely with social scientists, technology developers, economists, land managers and many other stakeholder groups. He also pursues biodiversity studies, endangered species assessments and he develops and tests research methods such as the use of citizen science in threatened biodiversity monitoring and management.

Sandra Ramme joined IWÖ-HSG in January 2021 as Community Developer for ECOnnect, a platform that brings together student associations on the topic of sustainability, with an emphasis on co-curricular activity. As a passionate supporter of sustainable projects and former Vice-President of Student Impact, Sandra is dedicated to strengthening sustainability even more in associations and other initiatives. She is currently in her fourth semester studying for a Master`s in Business Management (MUG) and completing the Managing Climate Solutions Certificate (MaCS) at the University of St. Gallen. At ECOnnect, she pursues the goal of bringing associations and other sustainable projects even closer together so that collaborations and synergies can be shared and transformative learning is promoted.

Juliette Kettler, Master’s student at the University of St.Gallen (HSG), won first prize of the Swiss Association for Energy Economics (SAEE) Student Awards 2020 for her thesis on sustainable aviation.

Ms. Kettler’s Master’s thesis, “Going Green – A Strategic Analysis of Swiss International Air Lines Towards Full Environmental Sustainability” focuses on sustainability in the aviation sector. In her work, she develops two possible strategies for Swiss International Air Lines to achieve sustainability by 2050.

Ms. Kettler’s thesis was supervised by Prof. Dr. Judith Walls at the Institute for Economy and the Environment (IWÖ-HSG) and co-supervised by Dr. Andreas Wittmer at the Center for Aviation Competence (CFAC-HSG), with guidance from Dr. des. Alexander Stauch (IWÖ-HSG).

Ms. Kettler has been invited to attend the International Association for Energy Economics Conference in Paris and present her research at the SAEE annual assembly. The results of the thesis will be part of a book to be published on Sustainable Aviation.

Congratulation on this great achievement.

Once a month during the winter semester we will host a famous or upcoming scholar on ZOOM to discuss their research.

The 2020-2021 sustainability brownbag series is organized by Dr. Miron Avidan.

We have a very exciting lineup this semester:

Friday, January 22^nd, 2021, 16:00 – Prof. Dror Etzion (McGill)

https://www.mcgill.ca/desautels/dror-etzion

Thursday, Feb 4^th, 2021, 16:00 – Prof. Sara Soderstrom (Michigan)

https://lsa.umich.edu/orgstudies/people/faculty/capasb.html

Friday, February 26^th, 2021, 16:00 – Ms. Lucrezia Nava (ESADE)

https://www.lucrezianava.com/

Wednesday, March 17^th, 2021, 16:00 – Prof. Raymond Paquin (Concordia)

https://www.concordia.ca/jmsb/faculty/raymond-paquin.html

Friday, April 23^rd, 2021, 16:00 – Prof Wren Montgomery (Ivey)

https://www.ivey.uwo.ca/faculty/directory/a-wren-montgomery/

Thursday, May 19^th, 2021, 16:00 – Prof. Sebastian Utz (HSG)

https://iorcf.unisg.ch/en/institut/team/mitarbeiterinnen/sebastian-utz

Master’s thesis opportunity: the role of carbon emission reduction targets in shaping environmental sustainability

A majority of Multi-National enterprises (MNEs) have been reporting their social and environmental performance for well over a decade, yet little is known about whether and how these disclosures shape their progress on critical issues such as carbon emissions, water conservation and biodiversity. At the Chair for Sustainability Management (IWOe), we are currently undertaking a project in which we track the sustainability disclosures of companies over four different time points (2003, 2008, 2013, and 2018) to observe how the definition of targets and goals has evolved over time and how target-setting has shaped companies’ sustainability performance.

We are looking for a master’s student with a keen interest in sustainability to help us on the project, specifically to help us code the reports. The student will, in turn, have the opportunity to use the coded content for their Master’s Thesis topic. We are looking for someone with a strong work ethic and an interest in this topic. The student will work closely with Dr. Miron Avidan, a post-doc at the IWOe.

If you have interest please contact Dr. Miron Avidan

Julia joined IWÖ-HSG in November 2020 after a dual degree programme in International Public Management at SciencesPo, Paris, and International Affairs and Governance at the University of St.Gallen, which she completed with an M.A. thesis on firms’ motivation to join the RE100 initiative. Her PhD thesis will investigate the interplay of business and public policy in bringing about a low-carbon economy. Julia is an alumna of the Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft as well as a fellow of e-fellows.net.

Full replays of the main conference programme on September 11, as well as the Dinner Talk on September 10 and the joint #REMforum #MaCSHSG #GreenBagSeries, featuring our latest research insights and best practices from an international set of industry practitioners, are available on our YouTube channel and accessible here.