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ECO-10039 - Module Specification
Keele Business School
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

For academic year: 2025/26 Last Updated: 04 December 2025

ECO-10039 - Sustainability and the Global Economy
Coordinator: Rosa Maria Fernandez Martin
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 4
Credits: 30
Study Hours: 300
School Office: 01782 733094

Programme/Approved Electives for 2025/26

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2025/26

In this module you will learn about the links between social, economic, and environmental challenges with a problem-solving approach. From access to clean and affordable energy to climate change migration, from sustainable food systems to poverty and income inequalities, you will apply economic thinking to analyse a range of ‘wicked problems’ and identify potential policy solutions. You will develop self-awareness about how living in globalized interconnected economies adds a layer of complexity to achieving a transition to sustainability.

Aims
This module will introduce students to the links between the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainable development. Using a problem-solving approach, students will learn to appreciate the interoperability of the economics discipline with others in their pursuit of solutions to global problems, from the access to affordable and clean energy to food security or climate change migration. The module aims to engage students in current debates about sustainability policy design and the trade-offs of policy decision-making, so that they appreciate the difficulty in keeping a balance between economic and other goals when they have an international dimension.

Intended Learning Outcomes

distinguish the role of different stakeholders in the development of solutions for global sustainability problems.: 1
apply economic thinking to the understanding of issues created by the globalisation of countries’ functioning, while appreciating the value of other disciplines’ arguments and viewpoints.: 1,2
explain the rationale underlying specific socio-economic policy decisions observed in the real world, using evidence to assess their adequacy.: 1,2
contrast stakeholders’ role in policy solutions to economic, social or environmental issues.: 1,2
explain the fundamental concepts of value and valuation in relation to sustainability.: 2
explain the potential policy solutions to global sustainability issues, identifying the trade-offs of alternative options.: 1,2

Study hours

Lecture time: 32-34 hours
Seminars: 10 hours
Presentations in class: 4-6 hours (this will vary depending on the number of students in the module and will be balanced with lecture time so that the total active learning hours is 48)
Preparation for class activities: 20 hours
Assessment preparation: 100 hours
Independent study: 132 hours

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Group Assessment weighted 50%
Group oral presentation or poster
Students will work in groups of approximately 5 people to prepare and present orally the role of five key stakeholders in a particular sustainability related problem. They can choose if the presentation will be shaped as a poster (1 slide) or traditional presentation format with one slide per stakeholder. (Duration: 10 minutes). Seminar activities will be designed to allow for both self- reflection and informal peer assessment.

2: Report weighted 50%
Individual written report
Students will produce a 1,500-word written report addressing a selected sustainability problem. They will use economic thinking to define the nature of the problem and conduct an in-depth analysis of the issue, considering different potential solutions. Students must justify the choices made through the use of evidence, demonstrating critical engagement with the topic. The problem should be drawn from real-world sustainability issues highlighted by governments, international organisations, policymakers, NGOs, or other stakeholders.

The University undertakes a continuous review of its teaching and research provision to ensure programmes are of a high quality and changes may be made to modules where it is necessary and reasonable to do so. Please be aware that minor changes to modules, such as a change to an individual assessment, can occur up until enrolment, although we endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes. Details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/legalgovernancecompliance/governance/actcharterstatutesordinancesandregulations/studenttermsconditions/

Last Updated: 04 December 2025