Sustainability is the greatest challenge of our lives. While the past century has witnessed an unprecedented increase in global wealth, the spoils have been unevenly distributed, exacerbating economic inequality, social injustice, food insecurity, and health emergencies for the world’s underrepresented. Those with means fed an ever-growing cycle of ‘abundance accumulation’ that has resulted in increasing consumption patterns, further inspired by business and marketing activities designed to stimulate our desire to ‘buy more stuff.’

The business models and marketing practices that worked in the 20th century are outdated. As the world changes, people in countries everywhere are confronting the reality of the damage the past century’s economic activity has introduced to the world.

In this course you will learn about the impact of business on the planet’s finite resources, the role marketing has played in encouraging consumption, and how marketing must change if it is to be an effective tool for positive societal value creation.  We must understand the past to embrace a better future and the role marketing must play in transforming business into a force for good. We will use the wine industry as the primary focus of this course, learning key sustainability frameworks and practices and applying them to this sector.