Winter 2012

Dear Friends of IGEL, Winter is a good time for reflection and renewal, a good time to strategize on reusing and reserving our resources and it is also a good time to plan on optimizing our events for the future. IGEL has been adding even more events, research opportunities and more to our busy IGEL calendar. We are excited to announce our fifth annual conference-workshop on April 26th, 2012 at Wharton. This years topic will be about greening the supply chain; please click here to see the agenda. In June 2012, we are launching our executive education program on Business Sustainability Leadership, a three day learning opportunity at Wharton San Francisco space is limited, so sign up today! On February 15, March 21 and April 4, 2012, we have sustainability leaders from Southwest Airlines, BASF and the literary world stopping by campus to discuss the latest in environUpcoming IGEL Events mental business with students, faculty and the wider community. Please join us if you are in the Philadelphia area! Other events in motion are a new half-day conference with Feb. 15th, 2012 Noon - 1:30pm Marilee McInnis, Wharton Social Impact and the Baker Retailing Initiative for the Wharton San FrancisSouthwest Airlines speaks at Penn as part of IES/IGEL Seminar Series. Click here for more info>> co campus on April 6th, and the next Bank of America/IGEL panel at the Wharton Global Alumni Forum Indonesia. IGEL is also hard at work on Wharton and Penn curriculum options. We have added a course option, Social Impact of Marketing, for Wharton MBA Environmental Risk and Management majors and the Wharton and University-wide minors in Environmental Management. Just recently IGEL has added new members to our faculty advisory committee, Ruben Lobel, an assistant professor in Whartons Department of Operations and Management, who has researched energy market modeling, and Roger Raufer, a lecturer in the Master of Environmental Studies program who has studied emissions trading and environmental impacts of energy. Our students continue to conduct research, start businesses and attend conferences around the world to learn about sustainability in business. You can read more about student and faculty research, conferences and entrepreneurship on our blog at whartonigel.wordpress.com. Join the conversation and leave a comment! We are also enthusiastic about our Alumni Advisory Group if you are interested in mentoring a student or collaborating with IGEL please contact environment@wharton.upenn.edu. Thank you for your support as we work to make Wharton and Penn the leader in solving problems and driving innovation in sustainability and business. Please stop by our office to say hello if you are in town or come to one of our on campus events. Best regards, Joanne Spigonardo Associate Director, IGEL 620 Jon M. Huntsman Hall,3730 Walnut Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Recent Highlights from the IGEL Blog: By Amanda Byrne (Excerpt)It is clear that there is plenty of progress to be made towards a more energy-efficient and sustainable society; but forums like these prove that we are in fact moving in the right direction whether or not the tipping point has been reached. During this Ceres event, gaps and solutions were brought to light by diverse leaders in the field. This type of exchange is crucial to making change happen. So keep the key points from this event in mind as you walk through your office building, your home, or attend your next class. The more these ideas are discussed and debated, the better! Read the rest of the post>> By Doug Miller (Excerpt) Eliminating or sharply reducing perverse subsidies, such as the billions of dollars worth of cuts already achieved by Green Scissors, removes barriers for laying the foundation for a more sustainable economy. Doing away with these subsidies helps shift consumption sharply away from environmentally harmful products and services and toward those that are easy on the environment [6]. Moreover, there is a double dividend as perverse subsidies are removed or greatly reduced. First and foremost, the formidable obstacles created by perverse subsidies that hinder sustainable development are removed. Second, a huge stock of funds available to give a new push to sustainable development becomes available [5]. Taxpayers also no longer pay a double price, which is the act of paying once for (perverse) subsidies and then paying again for the environmental and economical costs. Read the rest of the post>> By Caroline DAngelo (Excerpt) Please click here to read Carolines (IGELs Graduate Intern) review of Wharton alum Eric Lowitts new book, The Future of Value: How Sustainability Creates Value Through Competitive Differentiation for the Wharton Magazine. The book argues why altruism is the death of sustainability and uses cases, interviews and more to show that sustainability is the best business move to take. (Excerpt) The Multi-masters program is a unique opportunity for graduate students to obtain three masters degrees in two and a half years (fulltime). The students take eight credits here at Penn in the Master of Environmental Studies program and then head to Ecole des Mines de Paris in Fontainbleau, France for five months and then to Beijing to study at Tsinghua University for three months. At both universities, students undertake courses, lectures, site visits, case studies and projects to deepen their knowledge about global environmental management issues. Their education is then capped by a six month internship with a company or NGO anywhere in the world; their internship report serves as their thesis. Read the rest of the post>>

Mar. 21, 2012 Noon - 1:30pm Eric Lowitt, Author of Future of Value, speaks at Penn as part of IES/ IGEL Seminar Series. Click here for more info>>

Apr. 4, 2012 Noon - 1:30pm Charlene Wall, Sustainability Leader at BASF,speaks at Penn on "Chemistry and Sustainable Development" as part of IES/IGEL Seminar Series. Click here for more info>> April 6th, 2011 - Half Day IGEL/Wharton Program for Social Impact Conference at Wharton's San Francisco campus. Stay tuned for more details. April 26, 2012 - IGEL 5th Annual ConferenceWorkshop. The topic is Greening the Supply Chain. Save the date! June 12-14, 2012 - Wharton Business Sustainability Leadership Executive Education Program in San Francisco is now open for registration! Click on the link above to register or contact Joanne Spigonardo with questions. June 22-23, 2012 - Bank of America generously sponsors another IGEL/BofA Speaker Series at the Wharton Global Alumni Forum in Jakarta, Indonesia. For more details, visit the Forum website.