Courses & Electives

The Revers Center for Energy, Sustainability and Innovation supports curricular learning through credit and non-credit courses, workshops and events. The energy curriculum at Tuck is designed for students who have a deep interest in energy and for those who want to understand the industry in preparation for related careers in general management, consulting, banking, entrepreneurship, or investing. In addition to courses with a specific focus on energy, students have the opportunity to design independent studies and participate in various experiential learning projects.

For-Credit Courses

Energy Economics, Professor Erin Mansur
This course explores a managerial perspective on the economics of energy markets, including crude oil, refined products, natural gas, and electricity. The class will study drivers of supply and demand, imperfect competition, economic regulation, environmental regulation, and various other public policy issues. Students will compete in competitive strategy games by making decisions for countries in OPEC and for firms in the California electricity market.

Business and Climate Change, Professor Charlie Donovan
This mini course aims to help prepare business leaders to navigate the business implications of climate change. Given the need to mobilize trillions of dollars of new investment from the private sector to avoid the most severe consequences of global warming, we will seek to understand corporate climate action through the lens of investing. Tuck students will gain grounding in key tools for identifying, quantifying, and managing climate-related risks. Over the term, we will critically examine contemporary examples of how firms are seeking to capitalize on new investment opportunities and how global capital markets are adapting to shifts in technology, government policy, and consumer preferences. The overall objective of the course is to provide managers with a solid grounding in the future consequences of climate change and help them get ahead of the curve in spotting strategic and financial implications. 

This course meets the Ethics & Social Responsibility (ESR) requirement.

Current Issues in the Global Food Systems, Professor José B. Alvarez
The global food system consists of a multitude of players connected through local and global networks. The ability of these networks to feed the planet are under threat from a variety of challenges. The population of the planet will likely reach 10 billion by 2050, an increase of almost 30% from current numbers. Agriculture contributes at least 15% of all global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) annually at a time when the catastrophic impacts of climate change are starting to be realized in agricultural production. Drought, water scarcity, and war in key growing areas are exacerbating the problems at hand. These are enormous challenges that require innovative management practices, new technologies, and visionary public policies. This course will provide insight into the challenges faced by the food system globally and argue the merits of some potential solutions. Students will be exposed to the language, concepts, and tools industry players use to deal with these issues.

Financing the Clean Energy Economy, Professor Charlie Donovan
This minicourse focuses on the finance aspects of the clean energy economy. The course examines renewable energy generation—as mass electrification using cleaner generation sources is necessary to sustain our energy-dependent lives and economies—as well as energy efficiency. In each case, and throughout the course, finance will be analyzed as a barrier to, or enabler of, greater adoption of clean energy. Specific learning objectives include: 

• Describe the key investment flows in the clean energy economy 
• Evaluate some of the business models and financial techniques for bringing clean energy to markets 
• •Create basic financial models for analyzing clean energy opportunities and apply them to investment decision making 
• Identify some of the key opportunities and challenges faced in transitioning to clean energy 
• Understand finance mechanisms that can be used to support the development and deployment of clean energy

Sustainable Business Dynamics, Professor Ken Pucker
Advances in technology, emergent social issues and pressing environment challenges are elevating the importance of corporate sustainability. Independent of the chosen designation (CSR, corporate responsibility, ESG…) an array of stakeholders (including NGOs, employees, consumers, communities, investors, and the planet) are pushing the boundaries of responsibility and elevating expectations for corporations. This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the nomenclature, frameworks, and analytical tools needed to effectively integrate sustainability and responsibility into the management of a corporation. tools needed to effectively integrate sustainability and responsibility into the management of a corporation.

The Private Sector in International Climate Negotiations Practicum, Professor Tracy Bach
This practicum seeks to deepen understanding of how non-party stakeholders like businesses, banks, and investors engage on climate change under the Paris Agreement. It provides applied learning for Tuck students as they work with external project partners on the climate change Conference of Parties (COP) negotiations each year. The practicum explores how private sector voluntary pledges toward the Paris Agreement's 1.5C temperature goal complement the mandatory international commitments made by countries. These pledges began when the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015 and have grown to more than 30,000 – with almost half from the private sector. As future business leaders, this practicum gives Tuck students an experiential learning opportunity in private sector climate action at the international level.

Sustainability and Marketing, Professor Bryan Bollinger
The global economic system in 20th century had operated on a throughput take-make-waste model. As economic growth stretches global resources, however, consumers are becoming more and more conscious of the importance of sustainability practices.” 

Marketing has a vital and unique role to play in creating a more sustainable society as most of consumers’ material needs and many of our psychological needs are met through marketing systems. Sustainable Marketing is the process of creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers in such a way that both environment and human capital are preserved or enhanced throughout. 

This course aims to provide a broad range of tools and frameworks for understanding how business can interact with issues related to sustainability, taking a marketing perspective. In particular, we examine how traditional marketing strategies can be incorporated into and/or modified in domains in which sustainability is critical. We will also examine how sustainability can serve to augment, but not replace, the firm’s value proposition. By necessity, it will be essential to not only account for the role of firms and customers, but of government, non-profit organizations, employees, and other stakeholders. 

This course will draw upon cases, guest speakers, academic and industry research, and recent articles and events. The final course deliverable will be a marketing plan focused on a firm strategy that can increase the sustainability of the firm’s actions while also creating stakeholder value.

Not-for-Credit Opportunities

Workshops: The Center offers full-day or half-day workshops to help students take a deep-dive into energy topics that are not full-filled through the curriculum. These are offered to support students in the career recruiting process or simply to explore topics they want to learn more about. Recent workshops include:

• Energy 101-Fundamentals of Power and Gas
  This intensive, introductory, day-long workshop covers energy consumers, generation sources, physical system attributes, as well as regulation, markets, and future trends. The workshop utilizes several case studies from the power and gas industries. 
• Energy Project Finance
  This deep-dive workshop is an exciting opportunity for Tuck students looking to explore topics such as: M&A trends in energy and power (shift from public to private markets), the rise of ESG and renewable energy projects, including ESG scoring, bond spreads and PE multiples and energy project finance and a review of cases.
• Commodity Trading
  This day-long workshop is for students to better understand the Commodity Trading Industry. This seminar provides an overview of commodity trading fundamentals, strategies, and organization. Topics include: what a commodity is, what are Futures and Forwards, standardized futures contracts, derivatives, trading strategies, and commodity trading organizations. 
• Conservation Finance
  Policymakers around the world recognize the potential for natural land area to combat climate change. Environmental conservation relies on raising and managing capital for long term security. This workshop enables participants to understand the “triple bottom line”: environmental, social and economic returns of conservation finance.