The following programs are offered in partnership with the University of Arkansas Applied Sustainability Center.  The mission of the Applied Sustainability Center is to lead organizations in the retail and consumer goods industries toward sustainable practices that support an economy built around people, planet, and profit.  This is accomplished by solving complex problems, providing expert guidance, brokering problems and solutions, and by sponsoring research.

Wal-Mart Sustainability Supplier Assessment

In this 90-minute session, you will:

• Review the Wal-Mart Sustainability Assessment Questions in detail, including key learning that could come from each question, resources within your organization who could help answer each question, and a review of external resources that may help you answer the question and proactively explore ways to innovate in those areas of your business
• Review the weighting and calculations that will take your answers to the 15 questions and create scores in the areas of Climate and Energy, Material Efficiency, Nature and Resources and People and Community
• Discuss future sustainability reporting plans, including the much anticipated product sustainability assessment, or “Sustainability Index," and the Sustainability Consortium’s role in building the foundation for that program

This course is offered both in-person and online.

Life Cycle Assessment for Managers and Executives

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a powerful tool for understanding the impacts of a product or service across its entire life, from the extraction of a raw material to use and disposal. As LCA and product sustainability reporting become more mainstream, managers and executives across functional areas need to understand LCA so they can incorporate it in their decision making processes.  This one-day course gives participants the ability to do just that. Participants will review LCA theory and work through LCA case studies to gain experience in interpreting and making decisions based on product sustainability information.

Corporate Greenhouse Gas Inventory

Stakeholders are beginning to expect companies to report their corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to publicly set reduction goals. This one-day course will give participants the knowledge and tools needed to compile their GHG inventory in accordance with generally accepted protocols and to publish information to the Carbon Disclosure Project. Participants will learn the basics of greenhouse-gas science, understand the GHG Protocol and Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions, and review the Carbon Disclosure Project and other major sustainability reporting outlets. Students will also be trained on simple tools to help them collect data, calculate their footprint, and set achievable reduction targets.

Life Cycle Assessment I: Product Sustainability Reporting (Coming Spring 2010)

This three-day course will give participants the knowledge and tools needed to understand the impacts of their products, to engage suppliers in understanding the impacts of their purchased inputs,  and to  publish life cycle results to sustainability reporting initiatives, such as the Sustainability Index.  This course will train participants on the Earthster sustainability reporting platform and give students familiarity with leading life cycle inventory databases.

Life Cycle Assessment II: Advanced Product Sustainability Reporting and Assessment (Coming Spring 2010)

This two-day course will build on the foundations of Life Cycle Assessment I and give participants the skills needed for in-depth assessment of their supply chains and product life cycles.  Using SimaPro software, students will learn to build life cycle models for their products, identify high-impact life cycle stages and impact categories, assess uncertainty in the results of their assessment, and perform “what if” analyses of changes in product design.

Life Cycle Assessment III: LCA and Impact Assessment Methodology (Coming Spring 2010)

In this two-day course, participants will review current state-of-the-art Life Cycle Impact Assessment methods in detail, discuss uncertainty in life cycle inventory data and impact assessment methods, review current practices in life cycle methodology, and identify areas for advancing the LCA field through research.  This course is aimed at researchers who are new to the LCA field.

Sustainability Buying Toolbox (Coming Spring 2010)

This one-day course is designed to give buyers in the retail industry the main tools they need to evaluate and purchase sustainable products from vendors. These tools are designed to be transferrable to any product. The last part of the course will allow time for participants to develop a plan for the products being purchased. Buyers will leave with product or sector-specific questions to evaluate a vendor’s product sustainability.

Other Programs In Development

• Sustainability Director's Conference
• Certificate Programs
• Sustainability Summits for universities, communities, and businesses
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Local Sourcing
• Change Management
• Sustainability programs for chambers of commerce