Coursera

Critical thinking for sustainable business solutions (Coursera)

Offered by The Open University,

This course will help you to discover how to flip your logical thinking and reasoning mind to enable you to generate a wide range of innovative ideas and assess when to apply the different thinking modes appropriately in the ideation process.

You’ll apply critical reflective thinking to avoid personal biases and unintended consequences when you develop potential solutions. You will also analyse proto-concepts critically to ensure their suitability and the likelihood of positive impact.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Via text-based resources and task books, you’ll gain comprehensive understanding and benefit from in-depth reference points as you formulate your ideas and plans.
This course is part of the Sustainability for business success Specialization.

What you'll learn

Understand how the creative ideation process functions to generate a broad range of relevant outcomes to your challenge domain and systems map.
Converge on a selection of the most impactful ideas to take forward for implementation and (in)validation.

Syllabus

Welcome to the course
This week, you will dive into the process of creative thinking to solve systemic challenges. You will learn how to generate a broad range of ideas to address your defined sustainability issues.

Developing sustainable business ecosystem concepts
This week, you will learn how to converge your ideas into concrete concepts to take forward and test throughout the rest of the course.

Converging on sustainability concepts
This week, you will converge your thinking to make decisions about which ideas to take forward or to leave behind.

Refining sustainability concepts
This week, you will refine the ideas you are considering taking forward and reflect on how this will affect your draft systems map from course 2 in the Coursera Specialization 'Sustainability for business success'.

Go to Class

MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Coursera

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Women in environmental biology (Coursera)

Health & Society

Have you ever wondered how humans relate to other living beings and what do you need to know to be able to understand current environmental problems? Do you know that many of these researches and knowledge have been described by women? This course gives answers to these questions and it is addressed to anyone interested in the relationship between humans and other living beings, as well as all those concerned about the global change situation that the planet is suffering.

Oct 19th 2026

4 Weeks

Sustainability Women Environment

Coursera

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Principles of Sustainable Finance (Coursera)

Economics & Finance Business

Finance is widely seen as an obstacle to a better world. Principles of Sustainable Finance explains how the financial sector can be mobilized to counter this. Using finance as a means to achieve social goals we can divert the planet and its economy from its current path to a world that is sustainable for all. Throughout this course, you will learn about the UN Sustainable Development Goals, how social and environmental factors should not be regarded as externalities, you will learn more about sustainable banking and asset management, about effective engagement, sustainable scenario analysis and long-term value creation.

Oct 26th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Finance Sustainability Sustainable Economy

Coursera

Duke University

Electric Industry Operations and Markets (Coursera)

Engineering Sci: Environment

This is a two week course. In the first week you will learn about the core activities that the Industry executes to bring electricity to customers. We will review what electricity is, how it is generated, how it is transmitted, how it comes into buildings, and how consumption of electricity instantly feeds back on the transmission and generation of electricity.

Oct 19th 2026

2 Weeks

Sustainability Electricity Industry

Coursera

University of Cape Town

Climate Change Mitigation in Developing Countries (Coursera)

Sci: Physical & Earth Sciences Sci: Environment

This course challenges you to consider how one might lift societies out of poverty while also mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. We explore the inherent complexity of developing country governments wanting to grow their economies in a climate friendly way. You will be introduced to an approach with which to address this challenge. The approach consists of a facilitated process whereby academic researchers and high-level influential actors within society co-produce knowledge. You will track this process in four Latin American countries - Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and South Africa. You will hear from various professionals about their contexts and the different challenges and opportunities the process includes.

Oct 19th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Sustainability Innovation Climate Change

Coursera

University of Manchester

Managing Responsibly: Practicing Sustainability, Responsibility and Ethics (Coursera)

Management & Leadership

Managers are increasingly confronted with issues of sustainability, responsibility and ethics. Managing responsibly is an integrative approach to sustainability, responsibility and ethics, which allows you as a manager to deal competently with such challenges. This course will facilitate your learning process to engage in changing practices to make them more sustainable, responsible, and ethically informed.

Oct 19th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Business Sustainability Management

Coursera

University of Copenhagen

Transformation of the Global Food System (Coursera)

Sci: Environment

The UN predicts we will be 9-10 billion people on Earth in 2050. Providing so many people with nutritious foods is a massive challenge and one that cannot be met by simply upscaling current practices regarding food production and consumption. Providing humanity with nutritional food is at the center of all decisions related to sustainable development.

Oct 19th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Sustainability Sustainable Development Environmental Science

Coursera

University at Buffalo,The State University of New York

Exploring Emerging Technologies for Lifelong Learning and Success (Coursera)

Personal and Professional Development

This learning opportunity is an open-access resource for lifelong learning. The aim is to identify the value and implications of using established and emerging technology tools for personal and professional growth and acquire strategies to develop lifelong learning habits to keep pace with technology change.

Oct 19th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Personal Development Creativity Communication

Coursera

University of Copenhagen

The Sustainable Development Goals – A global, transdisciplinary vision for the future (Coursera)

Social Sciences

In 2015, the UN launched the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Adopted by 193 member states, the goals represent an important international step in setting humanity on a trajectory towards sustainable development. Within this course, you will get a historical overview of how sustainability has been understood, as well as a thorough introduction to the SDGs – what they are, how progress can be measured, and how the SDGs are relevant for the management of the global systems supporting humanity. The course will examine how various societal actors are responding to and implementing the SDGs.

Oct 25th 2026

3 Weeks

Sustainability Climate Change Social Sciences

Coursera

Technical University of Denmark - DTU

Global Environmental Management (Coursera)

Sci: Physical & Earth Sciences Sci: Environment

Learn about the best environmental technologies for a sustainable development and how they are managed in various settings around the world. This course gives you an opportunity to learn about global trends that influence our environment and the living conditions and how different management systems and approaches that are used around the world to manage the environment. This includes current environmental technologies built for the environment and technologies for sustainable soil management, groundwater protection methods and integrated Water resources management.

Oct 26th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Sustainability Natural Resources Urban Planning

Coursera

University of Chicago

Global Warming I: The Science and Modeling of Climate Change (Coursera)

Sci: Energy & Earth Sciences Sci: Physical & Earth Sciences

This class describes the science of global warming and the forecast for humans’ impact on Earth’s climate. Intended for an audience without much scientific background but a healthy sense of curiosity, the class brings together insights and perspectives from physics, chemistry, biology, earth and atmospheric sciences, and even some economics—all based on a foundation of simple mathematics (algebra).

Oct 19th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Science Global Warming Earth

Coursera

Rice University

Natural Attenuation of Groundwater Contaminants: New Paradigms, Technologies, and Applications (Coursera)

Sci: Physical & Earth Sciences Sci: Environment

Cleaning up the large number of groundwater contamination sites is a significant and complex environmental challenge. The environmental industry is continuously looking for remediation methods that are both effective and cost-efficient. Over the past 10 years there have been amazing, important developments in our understanding of key attenuation processes and technologies for evaluating natural attenuation processes, and a changing institutional perspective on when and where Monitored Natural Attenuation (MNA) may be applied.

Oct 26th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Sustainability Environment Technologies

Coursera

Starweaver

Supply Chain Management for E-commerce (Coursera)

Business

Immerse yourself in the dynamic realm of e-commerce supply chains with our course, "Supply Chain Management for E-commerce." Designed for emerging entrepreneurs, small business owners, and career switchers, this immersive journey equips learners with comprehensive insights. From foundational supply chain components to the strategic integration of technology and sustainability, participants will gain practical knowledge to navigate challenges and optimize operations in the e-commerce realm.

Oct 26th 2026

1 Week

Sustainability Logistics Supply Chain Management