This course provides an introduction to the creation, design, financing, and management of business start-ups aimed at tackling environmental problems. The central aims of the course are

1) to understand the principles, possibilities and challenges of environmental entrepreneurship;

2) to develop confidence and skills in starting an environmental business.

The first part of the course explores the concepts of entrepreneurship, innovation, business model design and the lean start-up and surveys the landscape of impact measurement and finance. The second part examines case studies of early-stage start-ups that address a range of sustainability problems, including de-carbonization of energy and transport, biodiversity conservation, sustainable fishing, and water stress. In each case, we will explore how the start-up analyzed the sustainability problem, came up with a business concept, designed (and red-designed) a business model and go-to-market plan, garnered (or is trying to garner) finance/investment, measures (or aim to measure) environmental impact, and whether and how it plans to scale.

Students work in pairs to produce and present a case study of an early-stage environmental start-up and to generate a business concept aimed at solving an environmental problem.