Academic Thought - Sustainability Action

The Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise conducts both scholarly and applied research. Our scholarly work pushes the envelope on sustainability science, while our applied research drives impact here and now through practical hands-on approaches for management. The institute focuses on four priority research areas:  Human Development, Global Change, Corporate Governance and Conscious Consumption. Read more about Erb Institute - Business for Sustainability here.

Featuring articles by:

Joe Árvai is the Max McGraw Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, and the Director of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan. Joe is an internationally recognized expert in the risk and decisions sciences, with a specific focus on developing and testing decision-aiding tools and approaches that can be used by people to improve decision quality across a wide range of environmental, social, and economic contexts.

Andrew (Andy) Hoffman is the Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan. Professor Hoffman's research uses organizational behavior models and theories to understand the cultural and institutional aspects of environmental issues for organizations.  

Thomas P. Lyon holds the Dow Chair of Sustainable Science, Technology and Commerce. Professor Lyon uses economic analysis to understand corporate environmental strategy and how it is shaped by emerging government regulations, non-governmental organizations, and consumer demands.

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Research, Reports & Publications

Andy Hoffman, Faculty Member at the Erb Institute | Business for Sustainability, Co-Authors Report on Hybrid Organizations and Corporate Sustainability
Is there an opportunity for hybrid organizations to improve corporate sustainability?

Environment

Navigating Troubled Waters: A Primer for Managers on Water Challenges and Opportunities
The water crisis and its resulting challenges have also impacted business and industry around the world, and will continue to do so. The expanding global industry in water-related products and services includes bottled water, water purification, desalination, and recovery technologies in addition to dam and pipeline construction, urban water and sewage infrastructure, irrigation technologies, and agribusiness. In addition, numerous other sectors are deemed to be particularly vulnerable to water stresses including waterintensive sectors such as clothing, automobiles, food and beverage, biotech and pharmaceutical, electronics, mining, refining, and electric utilities (Pacific Institute, 2007).

Research, Reports & Publications

Erb Faculty Member, Andy Hoffman Authors Chapter in State of the World’s 'EarthEd'
With global environmental changes locked into our future, what we teach must evolve. All education will need to be environmental education, but environmental education cannot focus solely on teaching everyone to live just a bit greener. Instead, it will need to both teach students to be bold sustainability leaders as well as equip them with the skills necessary to survive the turbulent century ahead.

Research, Reports & Publications

Motivating Sustainable Consumer Choices: The Role of Nudges, Values, and Labels
Research results suggest that "nudges" can be important tools in motivating sustainable consumer choices, which may complement labeling and and consumer education efforts over the long term.

Research, Reports & Publications

Examining Interdisciplinary Sustainability Institutes at Major Research Universities
Universities are experimenting with new types of organizational centers and institutes that are intended to make the sum of the diverse activities greater than the individual parts. This report examines this new form of cross-disciplinary sustainability institute, one that spans the traditional disciplines of the university, seeking to harness the power of their communities to address the grand challenges of sustainability.

Research, Reports & Publications

Designing Innovative Corporate Water Risk Management Strategies from an Ecosystem Services Perspective
In January of 2012, we teamed up with representatives from the sustainability department at The Dow Chemical Company with the goal of creating a viable, creative solution that would advance The Company’s efforts to address the risk associated with freshwater scarcity. With uncertainty surrounding the impacts of climate change and other environmental threats, it is becoming increasingly important for corporations to fully understand and incorporate the value of the benefits nature provides into strategic decisions.

Research, Reports & Publications

How Culture Shapes the Climate Change Debate

Research, Reports & Publications

Globalization Trendlab Report on Sustainability Opportunities
Erb Faculty Members, Professors Hoffman and Lyon are heavily cited in a Wharton report examining how and why corporations, nonprofits, and academics must inform, educate, and engage politicians and policymakers on sound and strategic sustainability efforts.

Research, Reports & Publications

Knowledge as a Driver of Public Perceptions about Climate Change Reassessed
Árvai’s research clearly shows that education and decision support, aimed at the public and policy makers, is not the lost cause that many followers of the culture wars think it is.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Bringing Stakeholder Values into Climate Risk Management Programs: Decision Aiding for REDD in Vietnam
The United Nations (UN) Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) program offers incentives for developing countries to reduce CO2 emissions and to invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development.

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