Ethics and sustainability analysis
Your topic analysis must draw on relevant ethical and sustainability theories and concepts covered in this
unit and apply these theories directly to the case study questions.
Present your topic analysis in the following format:
1. Title page
2. Separate headings for each of the four questions
3. Conclusions
4. References List
The five topics are:
1. Climate change
a. Link climate change to sustainability.
b. What are the main ethical issues relevant to climate change?
c. What are the critical implications of climate change for business?
d. What is an ethical and sustainable response to the climate change problem?
2. Poverty
a. Link global poverty to sustainability.
b. What are the main ethical issues concerning extreme poverty?
c. How can business help alleviate poverty?
d. What is an ethical and sustainable societal response to global poverty alleviation?
3. Population, immigration and aging
a. Link population and sustainability.
b. Gerontology (the science of aging) concerns the use of science to increase human life spans.
If science can enable people to live longer, shouldthis technology be developed?
c. As longer life technology becomes available, should it be provided by profit motivated
business organisations or managed by Government?
d. What is an ethical and sustainable global population policy?
4. Sustainable business
a. Describe the main sustainable business models.
b. What are the major ethical issues relevant to large corporations engaging in the global economy?
c. Providing examples critique the relevance of biomimicry to sustainability and business.
d. How would an ethical and sustainable business organisation differ from what we consider to be a
conventional business today?
5. Intergenerational responsibilities
a. Discuss intergenerational obligations in the context of sustainability.
b. Recent examples of excessive debt levels in Europe and the United States have focused attention on
intergenerational debt accumulation. Together with the deterioration in environmental quality, this
represents a potential burden on future generations caused by the current and prior generations.
What are our ethical responsibilities to future generations?
c. Discuss the economics of increasing national debt levels from a long-term perspective?
d. China holds large amounts of USD foreign currency reserves and invests heavily in US and
European bonds, yet many people in China still experience lower economic standards of living
compared to the citizens of the countries in which China invests. Discuss this policy in the context
of ethics and sustainability.