Sustainable Management in the Extractive Industry (FutureLearn)

Offered by SUMEX,
Sustainable Management in the Extractive Industry (FutureLearn)

Explore the importance of sustainability in the extractive industry and what the solutions along 5 key action areas are. On this six-week course, you’ll discover the most pressing issues and practical challenges faced by decision makers within the extractive industry. You’ll critically reflect on sustainability, discover best practice strategies, and learn how to respond to sustainability challenges faced by the mineral resource extraction sector.

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

Explain the environmental and societal impact of mineral extraction
With scientific materials and cutting-edge insights curated by renowned experts, you’ll investigate innovative approaches and solutions to the most pressing sustainability issues in the extractive sector.
Using the SUMEX framework, you’ll focus on five key action areas: permitting and licensing, health and safety, land use planning, environmental and socio-economic impact assessment, and reporting.
With this overview, you’ll be able to contextualise your knowledge within the areas of policy, business, and civil society, helping you analyse and discuss stakeholder needs.

Analyse environmental impact using tools such as the three pillars of sustainability
You’ll investigate sustainable extractive management processes through various conceptual lenses and methodological approaches such as the three pillars of sustainability, leverage points, and the Institutional Resource Regime.
With this knowledge, you’ll be able to apply and adapt sustainability frameworks to reflect different organisational needs.

Discover sustainable management best practice in policy and industry
Framing discussions within the European extractive sector, you’ll share best practice with fellow learners from around the world.
Combining shared experiences and expert insights, you’ll be able to identify successful approaches to sustainability and embed them in your own management practices.

What topics will you cover?

  • The societal relevance of mineral extraction for the transition towards a greener economy.
  • Sustainability approaches and key-challenges in the extractive industry, especially in the European context, and how to address them from a public policy and industry perspective.
  • Potential solutions based on practical examples, which can be applied across Europe.
  • The application of state of the art sustainability concepts at the operational level.
  • Methodological approaches to analyse and understand systemic change towards sustainability (Leverage Points & Institutional Resource Regime).

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Reflect on the importance of a coherent approach to sustainability framework in the extractive sector 
  • Explain the societal relevance of raw material extraction 
  • Investigate the main pillars of sustainable extractive management 
  • Apply sustainability frameworks for mineral extraction to different institutional and local contexts
  • Identify and evaluate good practices in the extractive industry in a critical manner
  • Discuss with experts and peers the current state and related challenges of the European extractive sector
  • Explore the SUMEX and other important tools about good practice learning 

Who is the course for?
This course is designed for leaders, managers and stakeholders in the mineral extractive industry who want to learn about the challenges, solutions and new developments in sustainability.
It will be especially useful for public administrators and industry practitioners wishing to understand and implement sustainability management at any stage of the mining life cycle from exploration to post-closure. This course may also benefit those interested in the importance of raw materials for a sustainable future and the challenges connected to them.

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

Related Courses

Sustainable Cities: Governing Urban Adaptation Under Climate Change (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Groningen,Global Center on Adaptation

Sustainable Cities: Governing Urban Adaptation Under Climate Change (FutureLearn)

Discover expert governance strategies for preparing urban areas to face the challenges posed by climate change. Learn how cities can successfully adapt to environmental change. In this course, you will investigate how governance strategies and policies for making cities more sustainable and resilient in the face of increasing climate risks can be financed and implemented.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
Teaching Climate and Sustainability in Primary Schools: An Outdoor Learning Approach (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Reading

Teaching Climate and Sustainability in Primary Schools: An Outdoor Learning Approach (FutureLearn)

Build your confidence teaching climate and sustainability outdoors and develop ideas to implement in your school. Discover the importance of climate education and outdoor learning. Children around the world are demanding comprehensive and up-to-date education on climate and sustainability. Most teachers agree climate change education should be compulsory in schools, yet many feel ill-equipped to teach it.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
How to Drive Sustainable Healthcare: Educate, Engage, and Empower (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University College London

How to Drive Sustainable Healthcare: Educate, Engage, and Empower (FutureLearn)

Understand how healthcare impacts the environment and gain the skills to drive sustainable change within your healthcare setting. Discover the importance of sustainability in healthcare. Though healthcare systems play a vital role in society, they also have a considerable environmental impact. As we face the climate crisis, we must identify ways to reduce this impact. On this three-week course, you’ll discover how healthcare systems negatively affect the environment and what you can do in your healthcare setting to mitigate this. With this understanding, you’ll gain skills to promote sustainability and improve the health of your patients and the planet.

Jan 29th 2024
3 Weeks
Medical Equipment Donations to Low Resource Settings (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
St George's, University of London

Medical Equipment Donations to Low Resource Settings (FutureLearn)

Learn how to plan a medical equipment donation to a low-resource setting that's appropriate, sustainable, and has a real impact. Navigate the pitfalls of planning and organising donations of medical equipment. Unavailability of essential clinical equipment can be a serious problem in low-resource settings. On this course, developed in collaboration with the Tropical Health Education Trust (THET), you‘ll learn best practices in planning a donation of medical equipment to a low-resource setting.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Innovation in Arable Farming: Technologies for Sustainable Farming Systems (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Reading,EIT Food,EIT

Innovation in Arable Farming: Technologies for Sustainable Farming Systems (FutureLearn)

Explore how innovative, digital technologies can help achieve sustainable intensification of arable farming systems. Consider ways arable farmers in the EU can use agri-tech to benefit business. On this course, you’ll explore evidence-based information that outlines the benefits and challenges of adopting new technologies within the EU, and have the chance to read case study examples of some of these applications.

Jan 2nd 2023
3 Weeks
Educating for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Schools and Universities (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University College London

Educating for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Schools and Universities (FutureLearn)

Explore the global challenges facing sustainable development worldwide and how to introduce them in schools and HE institutions. Develop the skills to examine sustainable development with all learners. As part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, schools and universities have a responsibility to educate all learners on sustainability. On this three-week course, you’ll gain an overview of the key issues relating to sustainability and how to deliver this knowledge, whether you teach in schools or higher education.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
Learning for a Sustainable Future (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Edinburgh,British Council,Learning for a Sustainable Scotland

Learning for a Sustainable Future (FutureLearn)

Join a personal and professional global learning journey towards a sustainable future. What on Earth could be more important? Grow your knowledge of sustainability. Climate change, gender equality, health, social equity, and inclusion are issues that affect us all, impacting human well-being and economic stability. How to live a sustainable life affects – and connects - us all.

Mar 13th 2023
5-12 Weeks
Achieving Transitions to Zero Carbon Emissions and Sustainable Urban Mobility (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University College London,Transforming Urban Mobility Initiative - TUMI,EIT Urban Mobility,ICLEI

Achieving Transitions to Zero Carbon Emissions and Sustainable Urban Mobility (FutureLearn)

Discover how cities can transform their urban mobility systems to become more sustainable and reach zero carbon emissions. Understand the steps to becoming sustainable city. Transport accounts for a large proportion of carbon emissions, so ensuring urban mobility systems are sustainable is key to helping cities to achieve zero-carbon goals. On this four-week course, you’ll discover how cities can transition their mobility systems to become sustainable, innovative, and inclusive.

Self Paced
4 Weeks
Tackling Environmental Challenges for a Sustainable Future (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of York

Tackling Environmental Challenges for a Sustainable Future (FutureLearn)

Discover how environmental research can inform how we respond to and solve the major global environmental issues of today. Explore sustainable solutions to environmental issues like changing glaciers. Our energy use is unsustainable, we’re producing waste plastic that’s endangering oceans, and large parts of the natural world are disappearing. We know our planet is facing huge environmental challenges, but what are we doing to solve them?

Self Paced
4 Weeks
Renewable Energy: Sustainable Electricity Supply with Microgrids (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Renewable Energy: Sustainable Electricity Supply with Microgrids (FutureLearn)

Explore approaches to electrification, microgrids, and how to harness this form of renewable energy to achieve sustainability. Learn and assess different electrification approaches from around the world. On this two-week course, you will learn how electricity is generated globally and explore different approaches to electrification. You will then learn technical aspects of electrification options via a national grid, off grid, micro and mini grids and reflect on the barriers to affordable, clean and fair access to electricity.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Compassion in Fashion: Sustainability and the Global Fur Trade (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
ACTAsia

Compassion in Fashion: Sustainability and the Global Fur Trade (FutureLearn)

Learn how fashion designers and businesses can make more compassionate choices to build fur-free, sustainable fashion brands. Explore why sustainability in fashion begins with fur-free. As the fashion industry’s future leaders and decision-makers, students in the fashion industry today have the potential to steer the industry to a fur-free and sustainable future. On this course, you’ll examine fashion sustainability through the lens of the fur industry.

Jan 2nd 2023
5-12 Weeks