Anthropocentrism and climate change: Radical reorientation away from greenwashing and toward degrowth in business education

This chapter discusses how Education for Sustainable Development Goals (ESDG) emphasizes the implications of climate change, which is an economic- and anthropocentric view of sustainability issues. This approach sidelines the value of nonhuman species and biodiversity, foregrounding oxymoronic aims of combating climate change without drastically reducing production, consumption, and population. For about a decade, ESDG has been dominating the international sustainable business curriculum (UNESCO 2017; Molina-Motos 2019). In placing ESDG in the context of business education, the focal point of this chapter is: How can business education address a broader range of environmental problems beyond the dominant anthropocentric perspective? There is a need to shift business education toward more progressive solutions. Instead of prioritizing the planet, the SDGs Agenda advocates responses that balance across social, economic, and environmental issues, misleading us on the extent of real changes. Educators need to equip students with critical thinking skills to detect greenwashing, or fake environmental practice.