Natural resources offer significant sources of employment and income for individuals, communities and states. Their use may cause a range of societal impacts, of which many are positive but others are more problematic. These tensions are evidenced in several ways in the transition to low-carbon economies. Siting of ‘green’/renewable energy facilities such as wind, hydro or solar power parks require space and may therefore affect the livelihoods and incomes of communities already present in those areas.

In the Arctic, such impacts often affect Indigenous peoples, who formally enjoy particular protection of their rights but in reality frequently struggle to be involved and have their rights respected. A range of minerals, such as zink, copper, and rare earth elements (REE) are required for the technical solutions for renewable energy production. These minerals must be mined, leading to an expansion of mines in the Arctic and Global South.  Mining is well-known to be associated with multiple harmful social and environmental impacts, including labour practices, dust affecting the health of neighbouring communities, and chemical pollution of waterways. Inadequate involvement of stakeholders and rights-holders in decision-making undermines societal legitimacy of renewable energy or transition mining projects.

These tensions have exacerbated debates on a ‘just transition’ and strategies challenging projects or plans made without adequate involvement of affected stakeholders and rightsholders. Several examples in the Arctic, including in Norway, Greenland and Canada, demonstrate that this may cause projects to be placed on halt, following local or national conflicted policy debates or court cases.  

Private as well as public organizations involved in the broad variety of natural resource usage, exploitation, preservation and administration need to understand the variety and complexity of such impacts and risks in order to identify and manage the undesired impacts, and maximize positive impacts as elements. The rise of the Arctic as a centre for geo-strategic considerations adds to the complexity of governing natural resource usage and designing processes that ensure adequate public participation and stakeholder involvement in decision-making processes. 

In line with recent years’ fast-growing theory, normative guidance and practice on responsible business conduct, natural resource exploration use or non-use call for processes to explore impacts, both harmful and beneficial, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders. This is significant for organizations to manage adverse impacts by preventing or mitigating and remedying them, to maximize positive impacts, and in both cases to account for their processes and outcomes. In a European context, this has been underscored by several new acts of EU law that underscore the significance of a corporate sustainability due diligence process in sourcing, finance, reporting or stakeholder relations. In a wider Arctic context, including Canada and Norway, similar expectations are based on international (United Nations) or OECD soft guidance, backed in recent years by decisions by courts. 

The goal of the course is to equip students with the theoretical foundations for understanding these complexities, identifying and assessing practices and relevant normative foundations, and developing theory-based solutions that are relevant within a wider context of sustainability, green transitions and stakeholder engagement, in and beyond the Arctic.

Background 

The course forms part of a series of four ‘Arctic Academy for Sustainability’ PhD courses running from July 2022 through mid-2025. Hosted at sites in northern Europe and Canada, each of the four Academies is organized around a specific topic, all joined by an aim to promote transdisciplinary research dialogue on the social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainability in the Arctic, focusing on solutions. While sustainability is the grand challenge of our time, the Arctic faces specific challenges due to its sparse population, fragile environmental conditions and abundant resources, which require transdisciplinary analysis. By advancing sustainability research in the Arctic context, the Arctic Academy focuses on two critical areas of human decision-making processes: (1) ensuring adequate rights-holder and stakeholder involvement in decision-making, and (2) effectively addressing the social implications of the green transition for comprehensively sustainable solutions. 

The Arctic Academy for Sustainability benefits from a grant from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, which contributes towards covering travel and accommodation expenses for the courses. Project coordination is based at Copenhagen Business School (PI: Karin Buhmann) and is associated with the University of the Arctic (UArctic) Thematic Network on Arctic Sustainable Resources and Social Responsibility, which is institutionally anchored at CBS.  

All academic faculty are members of the UArctic Thematic Network on Arctic Sustainable Resources and Social Responsibility (TN ASRSR), which is institutionally anchored at CBS. 

Prerequisites  

The course targets PhD students with an interest in the societal impact of the exploration, extraction and other forms of use or non-use of renewable or non-renewable natural resources, in particular with regard to stakeholder and rights-holder involvement in decision-making, and effectively addressing the social implications of the green transition for comprehensively sustainable solutions. 

The course is open to PhD students from all disciplines, in recognition of the interdisciplinary character of the Arctic Academy for Sustainability programme, as well as of the intersection between sustainable use of natural resources and the related societal impacts. The course is taught from a social science perspective. Students specializing in natural, technical or other academic disciplines are welcome and will enrich debates and the course in general. 

Two weeks before the start of the course, students are required to submit a 5-page paper (approximately 2,500 words) reflecting on the relevance of the course topic – i.e., the role of stakeholders as a regulatory force for sustainable natural resource usage - to their research projects. The text must apply and cite at least 10 of the texts listed in the “Course Literature” section below. The deadline for electronic submission of presentations via email to the course coordinator (kbu.msc@cbs.dk) is 12 noon on Monday 24 March 2024. Students will have the opportunity to present their work based on their paper during the first day of the course and reflect on the insights they have gained through the course and receive feedback on the last day of the course. Active participation in the presentation, reflection on learning and in the provision of feedback to other students is a precondition for passing the course. 

Students are required to attend the entire course. 

Content  

Commercial interests in exploration and extraction of natural resources in Arctic and sub-Arctic areas are on the rise, owing to climatic changes making access easier in some respects; geo-strategic resource considerations, as well as technological advancements and local demand for industrial development. Focusing particularly on organizational processes and the knowledge needed to identify and manage societal impacts and involve affected and other relevant stakeholders in decision-making processes, the course will address conditions, frameworks and practices for stakeholder and ights-holder involvement in decision-making, in order to effectively addressing the social implications of the green transition for comprehensively sustainable solutions. 

Throughout the course, the emphasis is on organizational processes for stakeholder involvement and societal impact management as aspects of natural resource governance. 

Workload

37,5 (including final day of reflections and presentations in presence of faculty, but excluding lunch breaks)/42,5 hours of presence including lunch breaks 

(5 days of 7,5 hours on average excluding lunch breaks) 

Teaching Style 

Lectures, practioners’ presentations, student presentations, discussions, excursions.

Learning Objectives 

At the end of the course, students will be able to  

• master basic theoretical frameworks for understanding and identifying positive and harmful societal impacts relevant to natural resource usage, with a particular focus on the green transition; 

• understand and explain the main theories and normative frameworks related to the involvement of rights-holders and stakeholders in decision-making related to natural resources for a just transition; 

• identify and analyze the societal impacts of activities undertaken in regard to the exploration, use or non-use and administration of natural resources for the green transition in the Arctic and sub-Arctic, and critically reflect upon both beneficial and adverse impacts and the challenges or opportunities they represent to host societies or communities; 

• identify and explain processes for meaningful stakeholder engagement and rights-holder involvement as elements in the governance of natural resources as defined in key governance frameworks relevant to a just transition. 

• critically reflect on what types of stakeholders and rights-holders may be affected in the Arctic or sub-Arctic, and identify strengths and weaknesses of impact assessment processes, consultations and other forms of involvement as natural resource governance instruments 

• identify, explain, critically reflect upon, and apply theoretical implications for ensuring stakeholder and rights-holder involvement in decision-making for natural resource use for green energy and addressing adverse societal implications of the green transition. 

Enrollment (process and deadline)

Students enroll by submitting a motivated application upon registration. In case of more applicants than space, applicants will be selected based on their applications. Students will be informed of their acceptance after the registrations deadline. 

Please note that enrolment is binding if you are accepted for the course. 

• Students may apply for partial coverage of the course fees as well as mobility support from the grant from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. Please see details and process below 

• Course texts (curriculum and recommended texts) will be made available electronically through references to online resources and uploaded files. Printed texts will not be offered. 

Financial Support

Thanks to the grant from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation for the Arctic Academy for Sustainability project, means are available to provide financial support for mobility support for students’ travel and/or accommodation and/or living expenses, upon application.  

Participants are expected to rely on own funds, if available (e.g., for PhD course fees), and to apply for mobility funds from their institutions or through other available sources (e.g. North2North for students from universities that are members of UArctic). Those who do not have access to such funds to fully cover their expenses may apply for mobility support from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Grant. Funds will be dispersed to the extent available, by decision of the Steering Committee for the Arctic Academy for Sustainability, based on assessment of applications and needs.  

To apply for financial support, students must provide a brief application upon registration. The mobility application should include:  

• a budget for travel, accommodation, and living expenses, indicating the funds that the applicant has from other sources, and the amount applied for 

• what other funding sources will be applied for and when the decision can be expected 

• an explanation of why the funding is needed 

• whether mobility support will be a condition for the applicant’s ability to participate.  

Contact  

• For information on practicalities and formalities etc:
  Nina Iversen, Course administration, ni.research@cbs.dk

• For information on course contents:
  Professor Karin Buhmann, kbu.msc@cbs.dk