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Organizer: Albert Berry

Contact: berry2@chass.utoronto.ca

Proposal: Market Economics is used by nearly everyone to understand how to do better, from moral people to criminals and monsters. “Free market economics”—the view that there should be few or no regulations on the economic behavior of private individuals and firms has its roots in the idea that under pure and perfect competition (many buyers and sellers in each industry and full information by buyers as to what they are getting from sellers) total national income is maximized. Although these conditions are not in fact fully realized, markets are given wide sway in most counties. Meanwhile social logic suggests that no person or firm should be able to tell any individual what they should or should not do, outside the realm of the actual job in which they are employed by a firm. Even there, of course, the firm cannot tell the person to do something that is a criminal act or obviously harmful to society. Free markets include the labour market and freedom means that a person can take any job they want; if the worker does not like the current one, he/she opts out. The only serious discussion around employee’s freedom to move that I am aware of involves employees who may take a firm’s private information to another firm when they move to it. In this case there is a serious issue of information theft.

Is there any economic defense of the employers of TFWs who prohibit shifting to another job? Suppose the employers argue that only with the assurance of the worker staying with them over the harvesting season (along with the low wage et al) can they survive economically and that both they and the workers are made better off than their best alternative (e.g. the job in the home country for the worker). In the TFW case three conditions are noteworthy—low salaries, poor living conditions, and prohibition of the person moving to another job without the employer’s permission. On the first two counts the case becomes complicated if the employers could not continue to operate if those conditions were prohibited and the employees would not be able to get as good a job elsewhere. ¹ If this third condition is not met, however, the implication of its imposition by the employers is that, in its absence their activity would not be competitive. Any activity which is only profitable if an employee is treated less well than he/he might be elsewhere is not contributing to national income/welfare, i.e. the economy would be more productive if the resource were used elsewhere. (The obvious parallel is slavery.) So what is the answer to this question? Where would these employees shift to if they were free to move? This raises the question of which behavior patterns should be regulated or prohibited. From a social point of view this suggests that ‘’Complicated questions arise around some types of behavior, including mistreatment of temporary foreign workers.

When a given regulation raises the income/welfare of one party and lowers that of another, it may be desirable if the income raised is that of a poor person. i.e. income distribution should be taken into account.

Footnotes
1 Thus in countries with high minimum wages and some employers avoiding that regulation because they could not make a profit if they paid it, their doing so provides direct benefits both to them and to the workers, who have taken the job because it is the best available to them. But If the existence of such firms then encourages other firms which can pay the minimum wage not to do so, and the harm done by this outweighs the direct benefits just mentioned, these activities may be lowering societal welfare, even though the direct effect on those involved is positive. In short, there are trade-offs on matters like these.

Organizer(s): Dr. Laurel Besco, Dr. Shardul Tiwari

Contact: laurel.besco@utoronto.ca; s.tiwari@utoronto.ca

Proposal: The session will bring together work that examine technologies and policies driving the sustainable energy transition, with a critical focus on carbon dioxide management. It will focus on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), direct air capture, and carbon conversion technologies, analyzing their community, economic, and political viability. The session will include studies that evaluate current policy frameworks and the socio-political dynamics influencing their development. The objectives of the session include assessing the real-world effectiveness of these solutions and identifying ways to foster transdisciplinary dialogue on policy design for their need and development. Perspectives from the community, policy, and industry will be part of the session.

Organizer(s):

Jan Mahrt-Smith, Associate Professor of Finance, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Cross-Appointment to the School of the Environment at the University of Toronto. Contact: jan.mahrt-smith@rotman.utoronto.ca

Olaf Weber, Professor and CIBC Chair in Sustainable Finance, Director of the Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business, Schulich School of Business, York University. Cross-Appointment to the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at the University of Waterloo.

Proposal: We will have one invited speaker from the finance industry and three academic presenters. The industry speaker would be a senior executive from a financial institution, or a senior policy maker concerned with finance and climate. They would discuss the past, present, and future path of Climate Finance in practice, as well as their view of where we need more research. We will then ask three academics to present their theoretical or empirical papers in the space of Climate Finance. The academics would also be given a brief opportunity to present their larger impressions of the Climate Finance space – as informed by their research – and where they see the future of Climate Finance research evolving.

Organizer: Ann Armstrong

Proposal: This theme explores the vital role university incubators play in creating and nurturing environmental start-ups, bridging research, innovation, and sustainability. It will examine how incubators provide mentorship, funding access, and research-driven support to accelerate eco-focussed ventures. Using global case studies, the theme will highlight successful incubator-start-up collaborations addressing climate challenges. The purpose of the theme is to show how university accelerators serve as catalysts for green innovation and impact. We would like to encourage sessions which (1) identify key support mechanisms for environmental start-ups, (2) ⁠analyze real-world incubator impacts on sustainability innovation, and (3) explore strategies for effective academic-entrepreneur partnerships.

Organizer(s): Prof. Simon Appolloni, PhD, School of the Environment

Proposal: We hear it all the time: ‘eco-anxiety is grabbing hold of the joys, hopes fears and energy of the youth of our time.’ But do we know as individuals what actually we could do when we encounter someone who is experiencing eco-anxiety? This session puts theory into practice and, through role playing exercises, the panel will demonstrate approaches that anyone (no specialists required) can practice in their own encounters with youth experiencing eco-anxiety. Each practice will follow with some follow up discussions and Q&A. The aim of the session is to empower those who wish to help those experiencing eco-anxiety while showing them the best practices to do so. No previous experience other than some empathy is required.

Organizer: Soo Min Toh

Proposal: The session considers the creation of inclusive workplaces as not just a moral imperative but also as a foundational element of resilient and sustainable oragnizations. It welcomes papers from different perspectives and disciplines related to workers, work and work environments. The papers can discuss organizational practices and policies that impact majority and marginalized workers, as well as broader philosophical and political discourse about what it means to be inclusive. Other topics include the future of work, AI and inclusion, migration, health, equity and cohesion, backlash, unintended consequences, leadership and inclusive cultures. Works on measurement and methods, including critical methodologies, are also welcomed.

Organizer: Professor Brett Caraway, ICCIT, University of Toronto Mississauga

Proposal: This session explores and critiques the often-unacknowledged relationship between the information economy and climate change. A growing number of firms, industries, governments, and other organizations are integrating AI-assisted operations into their organizational structures. As a consequence, the information and communications sector is now responsible for carbon emissions on par with the aviation, automotive, and energy sectors. Concurrent with this is a growing belief that AI will play a positive role in developing an effective response to the climate crisis. Accordingly, this session highlights the emerging body of research critically analyzing the linkages between AI, energy consumption, critical minerals, geopolitics, labor, the economy, and climate change & environmental pollution.

Organizer: Professor Brett Caraway, ICCIT, University of Toronto Mississauga

Proposal: A central premise of conventional approaches to sustainability has been the desirability of growing incomes and wealth as a means to achieve economic development and sustainability. However, a growing body of research has cast doubt on the assumption that continued economic growth is either desirable or possible given the Earth’s finite resources and interdependent ecosystems. Consequently, this session explores the possibility of transforming economies in order to reduce the material footprint of humans. The guiding theme of this session is: reimagining an economy capable of delivering prosperity without economic growth or environmental crises.

Organizer: Professor Brett Caraway, ICCIT, University of Toronto Mississauga

Proposal: Communication plays a constitutive role in influencing and orienting discourse in complex ways. Accordingly, this session looks at the impact of various media artifacts from a variety of sources including journalism, podcasts, motion pictures, social media, etc., on discourses related to climate change, sustainability, and related topics. Particular emphasis will be placed on the rhetorical character of marketing, corporate communications, political discourse, public opinion, and activism.

Organizer: Professor Yue Li

Contact: yue.li@utoronto.ca

Proposal: Organizations may communicate their commitments to sustainability in a variety of ways and some may disclose ESG performance information periodically via a sustainability report. Nonetheless, due to the lack of enforceable sustainability reporting standards and reliable ESG performance metrics, management has considerable discretion in choosing the contents and format of sustainability reports and may disclose ESG performance information strategically. This session examines the diversity and variation in contemporary sustainability reporting practices in different industrial and social and economic settings. We invite submissions from industry experts, sustainability reporting professionals, and academic researchers to present their research findings and professional perspectives on the institutional, economic, and social factors that may affect the quality and reliability of sustainability reporting. We will also explore ways to enhance the credibility and reliability of sustainability reporting.

Organizer: Professor Yue Li

Contact: yue.li@utoronto.ca

Proposal: Capital market participants are also key stakeholders to corporate sustainability performance. Investors may benefit from corporate investments that create positive social impacts while enhancing future financial performance. In the same vein, corporate neglect of the environment and social equity may lead to future liabilities and compliance costs, which will dimmish investors’ returns. This session invite submissions from financial institutions, banking sectors, mutual fund industry, and academic researchers to explore how investors, including institutional investors, and financial analysts can use corporate sustainability performance information to assess future risks and to make sound investment decisions. The session will also explore the role of capital markets in facilitating carbon neutralization and in promoting “green” and impact investments.

Organizer: Shashi Kant

Proposal: The focus of sustainability is on human wellbeing. However, a reductionist view of sustainability – treating environmental, social, and economic sustainability independently – is dominant which itself is the main cause behind sustainability issues. For a deeper and holistic understanding of sustainability, we need to ask why we are concerned about sustainability issues like climate change, poverty, mental problem, and loss of biodiversity! The main reason is that all these issues disrupt our wellbeing or our dynamic equilibrium with external (environmental, social, & economic) and internal (body, mind, and heart) systems. Sustainability, therefore, is defined as the sustenance of dynamic human wellbeing which requires the maintenance of a holistic and dynamic equilibrium of human beings with all external and internal systems. Hence, the dynamic equilibrium with external and internal systems are the two sides of the sustainability coin, and both are complementary and essential for sustainability.

Spirituality is the realization and feeling of connected and immersed with the spirit – the source of our creation and existence. In other words, spirituality is the practice of dissolving ourselves with the creation or reaching in the state of naturalness. For spirituality, we need to understand that we all (human beings as well as other beings) are the creation of the same creator/source/energy. At the time of our birth, we are in the state of naturalness – a true reflection of the spirit. As we grow, multiple lenses are imposed on us by family, schools, religions, and society. These lenses create the distance at an accelerating rate between our new state and our original state of naturalness and increasing distance leads to increasing danger to sustainability of humanity and the planet. The practice of spirituality helps everyone in terms of reducing the distance between the current state and the state of naturalness which contributes positively to the sustainability of humanity and the planet. The dominant view of science, started by Copernicus and Newton, is rooted in the Cartesian philosophy of Descartes, However, according to the Quantum Theory (QT) – the foundation of modern science – even the basic building blocks of nature electrons, protons, and neutrons do not have any intrinsic property independent of its environment. In addition, no sub-atomic particles can exist in isolation; all these particles can be understood as interconnections between different particles, and the system cannot be analyzed as two independent units. David Bohm, in his S-Matrix theory, suggested “unbroken whole” or “each part, in some sense, contains the whole” which is similar to Rumi’s spiritual view – you are not a single drop in an ocean but contains the whole ocean in a drop. A similar worldview – interdependence of all phenomenon and human beings embedded in and dependent on nature – is the foundation of the theory of Deep Ecology by Norwegian Philosopher Arne Næss, and the writings of Karl-Henrik Robèrt, a Swedish Cancer specialist and the founder of The Natural Step.

In this session, we seek to explore this broader concept of sustainability (equilibrium with internal and external systems) and common elements between spirituality, science, and sustainability. We invite submissions from scholars and professionals from all subjects and professions who have interests in this subject.