Solutions to Global Sustainability Challenges

Aim

Upon completion of the course, students should be able:

• to describe the UNs Sustainable Development Goals
• to describe and analyse different solutions to global environmental problems in relation to ecological, economic and social dimensions of sustainable development
• to apply and compare different scientific perspectives on complex relationships between sustainability goals
• to apply methods to analyse how anaerobic digestion can be used to manage organic waste in order to promote the sustainability goals of good health, food security, improved climate, clean energy and circular economy

Content

A number of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) concern environmental and climate aspects. The course provides students with background knowledge about the SDGs. The course deals with strategies for dealing with complex global environmental and sustainability problems. Particular focus is placed on technical solutions that are explored in laboratory experiments. In the laboratory exercises, we study how anaerobic digestion can be used to purify organic waste from environmental toxins and produce useful resources such as biogas and fertilizers.

Analysing solutions to complex sustainability challenges often requires interdisciplinary expertise. The chemical, biological and physical perspectives applied in the lab environment are therefore integrated with technical and social science knowledge of environmental issues. In this way, the course integrates perspectives from different scientific disciplines in the analysis of complex relationships between the SDGs to identify synergies and avoid goal conflicts.