BCCN
Sustainable Investment Fund (Haas)
COURSE NUMBER: MBA292J.1
SEMESTER: Fall 2024
COURSE TITLE: Haas Sustainable Investment Fund (SIF)
UNITS OF CREDIT: 2
INSTRUCTOR: Anne Simpson and Art Bake
EMAIL: anne.simpson@berkeley.edu artbaker@berkeley.edu
PREREQUISITES: Financial Information Analysis (FIA),
CLASS FORMAT: This is an experiential course with highly engaged student Principals making decisions on the Sustainable Investment Fund’s $4 million corpus and deliver proceeds for impact-focused projects that serve the greater Haas community. Faculty will provide some instruction on integrating sustainable considerations into fundamental investment decisions, there will be guest speakers and treks to visit companies and fund managers, and the bulk of the work will be student led discovery on compelling, values aligned investments for the Fund’s short, medium and long term objectives. Initiative, commitment, and interest will be critical to success in this class. Real money with real implications for Haas are at stake.
Climate Change and Business Strategy (Haas)
COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA292T.1/MBA292T.1
COURSE TITLE: Climate Change and Business Strategy
This course is dual-listed between the EWMBA and FTMBA programs.
UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 units
INSTRUCTOR: Andrew Isaacs
E-MAIL ADDRESS: isaacs@berkeley.edu
MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Mondays; 6:00-9:30 PM PT
Sample Syllabus (FTMBA Spring 2023)
PREREQUISITE(S): None
CAREER FIELD: This course is intended for students with an interest in how climate change is impacting business, and how business sustainability depends both on mitigating climate impacts and on adaptation to ongoing climate change. While the course does not shy from using scientific terms, the material is easily accessible, and no prior familiarity with climate science is assumed. We will examine a range of approaches to business sustainability in the context of a changing climate, the actions that business can take to improve the climate outlook, and the emergence of a climate-aware economy. Students considering a career in Sustainability will benefit from the deep understanding of climate-related business issues that this course is intended to provide.
Plant Futures Challenge Lab (Haas)
COURSE NUMBER: MBA292T.22
COURSE TITLE: Plant Futures Challenge Lab
UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 Units
INSTRUCTOR: Nina Guilbeault; Brittany Sartor
E-MAIL ADDRESS: ninagheihman@berkeley.edu ; brittanysartor@berkeley.edu
PREREQUISITE(S): MBAs enroll through OLR as part of Bidding or Add/Drop process
COURSE SYLLABUS: Copy of Fall 2023 Syllabus | Spring 2024 Course Flyer
CLASS FORMAT: Mix of virtual & in-person lecture and teamwork time. Must attend weekly meetings on Mondays from 2:00pm - 4:00pm PT and Final Showcase on April 29th from 12:00pm - 4:00pm PT.
REQUIRED READINGS: No required textbook. Readings posted on bCourses.
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Quality of client deliverables and course assignments, attendance (lectures, team meetings, client meetings, and Final Showcase), participation, and peer evaluations.
CAREER FIELD: Interdisciplinary (Business, Public Health, Public Policy, Engineering, Environmental Science, etc)
ABSTRACT OF COURSE CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
The Plant Futures Challenge Lab is a special course that blends in-class learning with applied field experience. Top undergraduate and graduate students are paired on multidisciplinary teams to work with professional clients from leading food systems organizations to develop actionable solutions to present-day challenges in the plant-based food and agricultural sector. Students will be guided throughout the learning journey by the teaching team and their challenge partner mentors through a series of team meetings, lectures, and workshops and will learn and practice systems thinking and design, ethical leadership, and entrepreneurial agency.
Energy and Environmental Markets (Haas)
COURSE NUMBER: MBA 212.1
COURSE TITLE: Energy and Environmental Markets
UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 Units
INSTRUCTOR: Lucas Davis
E-MAIL ADDRESS: Feel free to contact me directly with questions, lwdavis@berkeley.edu
INFORMATION FOR NON-MBA STUDENTS: This class is not listed in the UC Berkeley Academic Guide but may be taken by non-MBA currently-enrolled UC Berkeley graduate students. Spring 2023, I will be offering the class in both our full-time and evening-weekend programs. See here for instructions on how to request a seat.
PREREQUISITE(S): MBA-level Microeconomics (MBA201A) or undergraduate intermediate microeconomics is required. This is a class about economics. We talk about supply and demand, competition, market power, producer and consumer surplus, and related topics. This class is not a good choice if you haven't taken at least a solid undergraduate microeconomics course.
COURSE SYLLABUS: A recent syllabus is available here.
CLASS FORMAT: Classes are highly interactive and feature a combination of thought questions and discussion, in-class exercises, daily indicators presented by class participants, and participation in the Electricity Strategy Game (ESG). The ESG is an electricity market simulation in which each team owns a portfolio of generation units and bids those units into an electricity market. Teams must develop strategies to deploy their assets while accounting for the cost structure of their portfolio, varying levels of hourly demand, carbon policy, and the strategies of other players. In order to allow time in class for this interactive learning, I have recorded a collection of screencast videos featuring my voice over slides. These videos cover much of the foundational material for the course.
CAREER FIELD: This course is relevant for anyone interested in energy and environmental economics. This includes those working or planning to work in the energy sector, but also those outside the energy sector, but in roles related to energy procurement, environmental compliance, sustainability, and climate. In addition to MBA students, the course draws graduate students from across campus including the Goldman School of Public Policy, the College of Engineering, the Rausser College of Natural Resources, Berkeley Law, and other departments bringing viewpoints from many different perspectives.
Cleantech to Market (Haas)
COURSE NUMBER: MBA 212A.1
COURSE TITLE: Cleantech to Market
UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 Units
INSTRUCTORs: Brian Steel, Ana Martinez, Bill Shelander, and Alex Luce
E-MAIL ADDRESS: Feel free to contact us directly with questions, bsteel@berkeley.edu and ana_martinez@berkeley.edu
PREREQUISITE(S): No prerequisites; however, Energy & Environmental Markets is helpful.
ENROLLMENT DETAILS: To ensure that C2M’s custom-built teams remain intact and can begin meaningful work on the first day of class, C2M DOES NOT ALLOW ADD/DROP. This is consistent with other client-/team-based courses at Haas.
CLASS FORMAT: Please note that this is a highly team-oriented class. Therefore, in-person class attendance is required on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11am-12:30pm.
CLASS DESCRIPTION: C2M exists to help develop and inspire the next generation of climate tech leadership. C2M does this by creating and coaching interdisciplinary graduate student teams who help U.S. climate tech entrepreneurs bring promising climate tech innovations to market sooner and more effectively. Since its founding in 2008, more than 500 C2M students have helped to commercialize nearly 130 climate tech solutions, whose associated startups have gone on to raise almost $1 billion in follow-on funding.
Each year, C2M selects early-stage startups and forms interdisciplinary teams of four to six graduate students to work with them. These are the startups selected from across the country for this fall 2024 semester by a 33-person industry panel (including 22 C2M alumni, most of whom are PhDs):
- Ammobia - Cost-effective, clean ammonia production.
- Calectra- Low-cost electrification of high-temperature industrial heat via thermal storage.
- HidrogeniCs - Using methane to produce high-value carbon materials (e.g., graphene) and clean hydrogen.
- Oleo Sustainable Palm Oil Solutions- Deforestation free, carbon-neutral alternative to palm oil.
In the fall semester, C2M faculty (and coaches they arrange) teach and mentor the teams as each spends more than 800 hours providing critical commercialization support, which is focused on identifying the most viable initial markets, prospective customers and partners, optimal business models, funding sources, and related strategies.
At C2M’s annual summit in early December, $70,000 in MetLife Climate Solution Awards are presented to the startups supported by the top-performing teams. C2M-supported startups have gone on to raise nearly $1 billion in follow-on funding.
Climate: Politics, Finance and Infrastructure (Haas/Goldman)
SEMESTER: Fall 2024
COURSE NUMBER: MBA277.3
COURSE TITLE: Climate: Politics, Finance & Infrastructure
UNITS OF CREDIT: 2
INSTRUCTOR: Schaaf, Libby; Gordon, Kate
E-MAIL ADDRESS: khgordon@berkeley.edu
PREREQUISITE(S): No prior knowledge of climate change science, finance, or policy is required.
COURSE SYLLABUS: Draft syllabus available HERE
CLASS FORMAT: Combination of instructor-led discussions, readings, and guest speakers.
Instructors use a combination of academic papers, industry reports, news articles, podcasts, videos, and occasionally actual California-based cases, to provide a basis of knowledge on which the class can build responses to discussion questions. Students are required to read / watch / listen to the items listed under “Materials” on the syllabus. Items listed as “Recommended” are optional, and included for students who are interested in taking a deeper dive into particular subjects. In some cases, recommended materials may relate directly to study questions, offering information not fully captured in the required materials.
This course features guest speakers who are leaders in the fields of climate change science, policymaking, finance and investment. To ensure a vibrant discussion with these speakers, students are expected to come to class prepared with questions for our guest speakers in addition to responses to assigned study questions. Laptops are not allowed in class except as an approved accommodation. All classes will be taped with anytime access to all students enrolled in the class.
Sustainable Impact and Climate Investing Landscape
CLASS DATES AND TIMES:
Sundays
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM PT
Sept 29 & Oct 27
Please note the unorthodox format of this course, which meets all day on two Sundays.
You must attend both sessions in their entirety in order to earn a passing grade. The course will not be recorded.
PREREQUISITE(S):None
REQUIRED READINGS: Required and suggested reading will be included in the course materials.
INSTRUCTORS: Justina Lai, Rebekah Saul Butler
justina.lai@berkeley.edu; rsbutler@gratituderailroad.com
This course is intended as an introduction to critical issues in the impact investing and sustainable finance fields. It is designed to provide students with an understanding of opportunities and challenges in various asset classes, discuss latest thinking on impact measurement, management and reporting, and introduce expert speakers from multiple disciplines working in the field today. Our objective is to provide students with working knowledge on issues in the field and inspire further study in areas of particular interest. Climate and DEI lenses are centrally embedded in the landscape.
This course is intended for anyone who might be interested, now or later in their careers, in:
- Becoming an entrepreneur in an impact sector, whether for-profit or non-profit.
- Working in impact investing (including seed investing, impact VC/PE, debt, accelerators, real assets or public securities).
- Having the tools to develop entrepreneurial ecosystems centered on climate action and gender equity and racial justice.
- Working in sustainable investment (including developing impact investing strategies, constructing sustainable investment portfolios or engaging in sustainable active ownership with corporations).
- Working in impact sectors (climate, food, energy, environment, health, education, etc.) and wanting exposure to structuring and capital raising.
- Careers in corporate sustainability and intrapreneurship.
- Building an understanding of the essentials of the field, including learning the nuances of speaking the language of climate, impact, and sustainable investing.
Climate Solutions Fund (Haas)
COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA/MBA 292T.7
SEMESTER: Fall 2024
COURSE TITLE: Berkeley Climate Solutions Fund (CSF)
UNITS OF CREDIT: 3
INSTRUCTOR: Adair Morse, Jeep Kline, and Todd Evans
EMAIL: adair@berkeley.edu, jeep.kline@berkeley.edu, todd.evans@generatecapital.com
CLASS FORMAT: The Berkeley Climate Solutions Fund (CSF) will train students as investment managers in a multi-asset class investment fund, investing into climate solutions financing opportunities. The focus of the investments will be in the area of finance not traditionally taught as mainstream finance, but where there are dire needs for expertise, including such areas as public-private partnerships for federal or state programs, capital stacks for risk buffering and incorporation of advance purchase commitments, middle market expansion in the picks and shovels of the economy, and growth equity for technology solutions applied to production and logistics
Topics in Responsible Business: Brands and Sustainability
Fall 2024, UGBA192T
Judy Hopelain
Aug 28 2024 - Dec 13 2024 TuTh 2:00-3:30pm
125 Cheit
Class #19051
3 Units
Instruction Mode: In-Person Instruction
Open Seats 31 Unreserved Seats
Today, business success depends on more than financial results. Sustainability is a business imperative, and employees, customers and communities expect brands to embrace and stand up for values they share. Yet a quick look at most rankings reveals that few businesses that are known for their sustainability leadership are seen as brand leaders, and few top global brands are rated as sustainability leaders.
This course starts with the premise that it shouldn’t be this way. Today’s leaders recognize that their businesses can (and must!) succeed on all 3 fronts - financial, sustainability and brand - to secure their future viability. They also realize that the path to success is not a straight or short line - it’s a journey that includes many steps, some small, some larger, as well as some missteps.
Through current papers and articles (most of which are short, and all of which are in the Study.net reader), class discussions and guest speakers, we will explore examples of financial, sustainability and brand leadership, distill key their success factors and uncover guiding principles for achieving them. Students will also bring their own examples and experience, share in facilitating class discussions and apply key frameworks in evaluating real-world challenges at the intersection of finance, sustainability and brand.
Energy and Civilization
2024 Fall
UGBA 193B 001 - LEC 001 offered through Walter A. Haas School of Business(opens in a new tab)
Christine A Rosen, Ahmed Badruzzaman
Aug 28 2024 - Dec 13 2024
Tu, Th
12:30 pm - 1:59 pm
Chou Hall N370
Class #:20077
Units:4
Instruction Mode: In-Person Instruction
Open Seats
61 Seats Reserved for Business Administration Majors with 5 or more Terms in Attendance or EAP Reciprocity
Energy is one of the main drivers of civilization. Today we are at the precipice of what many hope will be a major paradigm shift in energy production and use. Two transitions are needed. On the one hand, we must find ways to extend the benefits of our existing energy system to the impoverished people living in the developing world while continuing to provide these benefits to the people of the developed world. On the other hand, we must completely overhaul the existing system to fight climate change and other forms of air and water pollution. Are these shifts truly within our reach? Can we achieve both simultaneously? If so, how? This Big Ideas course will grapple with these questions using an interdisciplinary systems approach.