Sustainability Case Studies 2023-2024 – Part 1

In the academic year 2023-24, INSEAD faculty published 28 case studies tagged in the ‘sustainability’ category. This is double the number from the previous academic year 2022/23. From how INSEAD reduced its own carbon emissions to strategically preserving a future for the Chateau de Fontainebleau, in part 1 discover 15 varied sustainability case studies from the 2023/2024 academic year:

Carbon and Reporting Cases 

Climeworks: Carbon Dioxide Removal through Direct Air Capture

With heightened sensitivity to the climate crisis, organizations around the world are pursuing diverse initiatives to mitigate global warming. Climeworks is a pioneer in employing direct air capture (DAC) technology to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and store the carbon underground. The company has set an ambitious goal of removing 1 gigaton of CO2 per year by 2050. However, given the nascency of the technology, the carbon markets and the policy landscape, it is too early to tell if that is reachable. Professor Jasjit Singh explores what Climeworks should do to achieve the greatest environmental impact.

Carbon27’s Pivot: A Virtual Prototype with Generative AI

Professor Stephen Chick and Sunny Kumar delve into an entrepreneur’s foray into the complex world of carbon credit markets. His venture, Carbon27, designed an IOT prototype that could be attached to solar panels, and a software platform to enable homeowners (as well as commercial firms) to generate carbon credits and facilitate entry into the carbon markets. The case reveals how this entrepreneur used large language models to help identify risks and design prototypes and experiments to pivot to new markets quickly and inexpensively.

GHGSat and the Global Market for Monitoring Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 2024

Founded in 2012 in Montreal, GHGSat uses high-resolution satellites to pinpoint and quantify methane emissions. With a team of over 120, it empowers customers across different industries and functions to reduce their environmental footprint, optimize their operations and uphold environmental regulations. Its users include some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies. In 2023, the CEO, Stephane Germain (INSEAD MBA' 94J), was included on the inaugural “TIME100 Climate” list of the most influential leaders driving businesses to take climate action. Professor Karel Cool and Olivier Daviron discuss the company’s founding, strategic choices and growth, the market for emissions detection, and key strategic issues in 2024.

Carbon Commitments: Designing a Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Plan for INSEAD Business School

INSEAD Professor Atalay Atasu and Laura Heely document the process involved in reducing carbon emissions at INSEAD, and outlines what it takes to develop a rigorous emissions reduction plan.

EcoVadis and the Market for Supply Chain Sustainability Ratings in 2023

EcoVadis, founded in 2007 by Pierre-François Thaler (INSEAD MBA, 1999) and Fréderic Trinel, is a platform that allows corporations to get transparency on the sustainability practices and status of their suppliers, and simultaneously allows suppliers to show their sustainability credentials to their corporate buyers. Professors Karel Cool, Atalay Atasu and Luk Van Wassenhove with Laurent De Clara look at the ascension of EcoVadis in the market for supply chain sustainability ratings as well as its competitive position in 2023.

Sustainable Finance Cases

Double Delta: Pursuing Additionality in Impact Investing

In 2023, the Asia-based impact investing team within Credit Suisse was spun off to form an independent impact advisory firm called Double Delta. The firm differentiates itself within the increasingly crowded impact investing space by focusing on Asia-based SMEs serving the low-income population and its emphasis on ensuring that its investments have a significant “additionality” in terms of helping the investees improve their social impact. Professor Jasjit Singh’s case details the investment strategy and process for Double Delta’s impact funds, presents two investment opportunities to be evaluated for their fit with its first fund, and discusses possible directions Double Delta could take in its future work.

Driving Sustainable Growth and Empowering Society: Nickel's Blue Ocean Beyond Disruption

This case by Professors W. Chan Kim,  and Renée Mauborgne, as well as Melanie Pipino examines Nickel, a French fintech established in 2014, aimed to provide accessible banking services to underserved populations. Their innovative 'bank in a box' concept, requiring only an ID, a mobile phone, and €20, was distributed through local tobacco stores in France, which are an integral part of French daily life. In under five minutes, customers could acquire an International Bank Account Number and a ready-to-use Mastercard debit card. With it, the once financially excluded won, Nickel won, the tobacco stores won, and importantly, no one was made worse off. Nickel's nondisruptive creation also had a profound social impact, offering cost-effective access to basic banking services and empowering marginalized individuals. 

Health and Pharmaceutical Cases

Should Kazuria Produce Vaccines Locally with Unizima’s Support? Vaccine Manufacturing Capacity in Africa

New technological developments in biotechnology are creating new opportunities for less centralized production and distribution of biological medicines, including vaccines. This case by  Professors Stephen E. Chick,  Luk Van Wassenhove, and  Prashant Yadav,  and research assistant Abed Kayyal explores how innovative small-scale production technologies in biotech enable more flexible production of vaccines and other biologic medicines in low- or middle-income countries (LMICs) and neighbouring countries. 

Diatropix: Creating a Sustainable Rapid Diagnostic Test Manufacturing Platform in Africa

A new African manufacturer of diagnostic tests grapples with the challenges of a hyper-competitive global market and explores and designs a new business model to compete in this case by Professors Prashant Yadav and Luk Van Wassenhove, and Lisa Simone Duke.

Easier Together: Zirq Solutions’ Ecosystem Approach to Recycling Insulin Pens

The case describes how the Danish company Zirq Solutions, a subsidiary of Norwegian NG Group, brought circular economy thinking to the pharmaceutical industry. Under CEO Thomas Morch and the inventive CTO Jesper Vinther Dueholm, Zirq Solutions established the only industrial process in the world capable of recovering materials from used medical pens (to inject insulin or for fertility treatment) – and recycled them to make new products. Encountering multiple roadblocks on the journey towards establishing the new circular business model, they found that the best way to overcome them was partnerships.  This case is by Clara Carrera,  Michael Olenick, and Professors Luk Van Wassenhove and Atalay Atasu.

Fertile Ground for Expansion: Nabta Health’s Global Reach

This case follows a woman founder’s journey to establish a femtech startup in the Middle East. Professors Chengyi Lin and Stephen E. Chick as well as  Lisa Simone Duke and  Ridhima Aggarwal explore the business opportunities and challenges of women’s health in a region where it is often considered a taboo subject. The case poses a series of interesting questions: How to grow the business beyond major cities like Dubai? How to scale the hybrid delivery model and sustain growth? How to fulfill the mission of building a supportive community for women beyond the healthcare offering?

Access Afya Scaling Services and Segments for Healthcare in Kenya

The case describes the journey of Access Afya, which was founded in 2012 with a mission to provide access to affordable, high-quality health care for unserved communities in Kenya through a hybrid offering (digital and physical facilities) – its own clinics, Curafa™ franchise health centres (in urban and peri-urban areas), and mDaktari, its online clinic. These were an alternative to existing public clinics, ‘illegal’ clinics, and expensive private clinics targeted at people on higher incomes. The case discusses the ecosystem it developed for primary healthcare that aimed to be sustainable and scalable. Case by Professors Stephen E. Chick and Chengyi Lin, as well as Ridhima Aggarwal, Hyunjin Kim,  Anne-Marie Carrick.  

Arts and Culture Cases

Preserving the Past while Sustaining the Future: Designing a Strategic Blueprint for the Château de Fontainebleau

Professor Ithai Stern,  Ridhima Aggarwal and Anne-Marie Carrick describe how the Château de Fontainebleau in France, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is addressing the challenges facing many historical monuments and heritage sites in a turbulent environment marked by geopolitical issues, the covid pandemic, climate change, energy shortages, and economic uncertainty. These successive crises expose a broader challenge – how to manage in an age of uncertainty. Incremental change is no longer sufficient to achieve the chateau’s objectives; more fundamental change is needed. But how best can it be framed and funded? Preserving the nation’s history for generations to come – while remaining financially sustainable – is its primary mission. The challenge is therefore to craft a strategy for the entire estate to take account of falling visitor numbers and, more immediately, make plans for the Henri IV wing that has stood empty for decades.

AZULIK Universe: A Magical Mix of Art, Sustainability and Community Engagement for a Luxury Brand

The case by Professor Amitava Chattopadhyay and Vadim Grigorian (MBA' 00J) describes the hospitality brand AZULIK, which offers a unique luxury experience based on a set of contemporary values that resonate with the most demanding international consumers: connecting to art, nature, and local communities. In the process of building the resort, a series of brands were created to fill the various needs of guests—restaurants, bar, spa, shops, and a museum. Vadim Grigoryan, marketing consultant to AZULIK, is tasked to bring order to the portfolio of independent brands created. The case puts students in Vadim’s shoes and requires them to decode the AZULIK brand, articulate the values underpinning the brand’s identity, decide what role each of the independent brands should play, and whether and how these should be linked to the master brand. 

Creating Value with Blockchain & NFTs: Arianee Leading the Transition to Web3.0 with Digital Product Passports

Arianee is a France-based scale-up at the forefront of the blockchain digital economy founded in 2017 by four French serial entrepreneurs. Arianee offers web3 solutions for brands, such as digital product passports and clienteling tools. The case by Professor Frederic Godart and  Katia Kachan focuses on exploring the opportunities for and obstacles to the development of blockchain-based technologies and the decentralized web, focusing on the concept of “zero-party” customer data.