ETHIC S, RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY
Detailed Open-Book Exam
Support Paper
Expanded source-of-truth version for the ERS exam: core concepts
explained in plain language, where each framework applies, what to look
for in a case, key class cases, and a solved STEP up for Agriculture mock
exam.
USE CASE DESIGN HOW TO USE
Paper-only open-book exam A4, double-sided print Find the exam signal, pick
support when you have not friendly, light color coding, the lens, apply case facts,
studied enough and need compact but more show one tension or limit,
fast, reliable retrieval. explanatory than the first then conclude.
version.
Color key Core exam posture
blue Definitions and concepts This paper gives the material and the logic. It is not a
green Frameworks and models script. In the exam, write in your own words, tie every
orange Cases and examples claim to the case, and avoid overclaiming. Strong ERS
purple Exam-use cues answers normally admit that a case has trade-offs,
red Pitfalls and distinctions missing data, stakeholder conflicts or residual risks.
grey Nuance or source-handling note
,Table of Contents
One-page exam map
1. Exam method: how to read and answer
2. Framework picker: what the question is probably testing
3. ERS foundations: sustainability, ethics, responsibility
4. Grand challenges, obstacles and life-cycle thinking
5. Stakeholders and salience
6. Due diligence and inherent risk
7. Reporting, standards, CSRD, double materiality and finance
8. Ethics and compliance systems and residual risk
9. Alternative business, regenerative design and Doughnut logic
10. Responsible leadership and activism
11. Ethical dilemmas, fraud and F.O.R.C.L.E.A.R.
12. ERS tensions, paradoxes, SDGs and B Corp
13. Systems thinking
14. Collaboration and collective robust action
15. Class cases and reusable exam cues
16. Solved mock exam: STEP up for Agriculture
17. Question-type support and compact answer material
18. Glossary, key distinctions and final checklist
Page 2 of 33 Table of Contents
,One-page Exam Map
What ERS is asking Default exam answer What usually scores
Ethics: what is right, who has 1. Name the issue and lens. 2. A precise concept, case evidence,
duties, what rights matter, what Define the lens in one sentence. 3. component-by-component
kind of organization/manager is Apply components to case facts. 4. application, balanced judgement,
created by the decision. Add a tension, risk, limit or missing and no generic sustainability
Responsibility: how firms take information. 5. Conclude with a slogan. A short answer with correct
responsibility for impacts on justified judgement. logic is better than a long answer
stakeholders, society and value that retells the case.
chains.
Sustainability: whether action
respects future generations,
ecological limits and social
foundations.
Question signal Use this lens Core material to retrieve Typical nuance
Big societal problem; Grand challenge Urgency, uncertainty, complexity, evaluativity; A company initiative rarely solves the
climate, water, soil, obstacles: knowing, valuation, communication, whole problem; show realistic
poverty, food coordination, trust, access/reach, institutions. contribution.
systems
Who matters most, Stakeholder Power, legitimacy, urgency; latent, expectant, High salience is not the same as
who should be salience definitive stakeholders. moral worth. Low-power affected
prioritized? groups can still be ethically central.
Can we partner with Due diligence Risk topics; countries, sectors, public officials, Separate what the case already tells
this company/client/ contract value/nature, past events; inherent you from missing information you
supplier? risk before mitigation. must collect.
Policy, code, E&C system and Governance, code, whistleblowing, tone/ A formal policy reduces risk only if it
whistleblowing, residual risk culture, training, third-party DD; residual risk is implemented, used, monitored and
culture, training, after controls. enforced.
scandal prevention
Report, data, Double Context/value chain, IROs, affected Impact materiality is people/planet;
material topic, CSRD, materiality stakeholders/users, impact and financial financial materiality is effect on the
ESRS, IROs criteria, thresholds, reporting quality. firm. They overlap but are not the
same.
Loan, bank, Sustainable Eligibility, alignment, DNSH, minimum A green activity can still carry ethical,
taxonomy, green finance safeguards, physical/transition risk, credit/ historical, supply-chain or
financing, ESG reputation/compliance risk. governance risks.
controversies
What should they do Ethical dilemma Virtue, consequences, duties; F.O.R.C.L.E.A.R.; Do not answer only with outcomes;
under moral fraud triangle if misconduct. rights, law, duties and character can
pressure? limit what is acceptable.
Conflicting goals, ERS tensions Paradoxical mindset; acceptance, separation, Make both poles legitimate before
certification, SDG synthesis; SDG and B Corp tensions. judging the response.
contradictions,
growth vs limits
Solution may backfire Systems Stocks, flows, variables, feedback loops, Assess second-order effects, not just
or shift harm thinking delays, leverage points, unintended effects. intended benefits.
elsewhere
Many actors must Collaboration Participatory architecture, multivocal Collaboration can create scale but
work together inscription, distributed experimentation; actor also lowest-common-denominator,
roles and trust. accountability and greenwashing
risks.
One-page Exam Map Page 3 of 33
, 1. Exam Method: How to Read and Answer
exam The exam is open book, but it is still time-limited. The difficulty is not remembering labels; it is recognizing
the right concept and applying it precisely. Do not write everything you know. Write the material that the
question asks for.
Read the question word by word Mark case evidence first
• Name/cite: give the concept, stakeholder or risk Circle actors, geography, sector, promises, goals,
topic; add a short identifier. value-chain position, measurement systems,
• Argue why: link the claim to framework criteria and governance, public controversy, stakeholder claims,
case facts. time horizon, and missing information. One precise
• Justify priority: choose and defend with criteria; case fact per component is usually better than broad
do not merely list. description.
• Assess/evaluate: show strengths, weaknesses, Useful mental check: if your answer could fit any
missing data and a judgement. company, it is probably too generic.
• Recommend: propose conditions, mitigation or
monitoring, not only a slogan.
• Compare: use common dimensions; avoid writing
two separate summaries.
Answer What it should contain Bad version Better version
element
Concept One sentence defining "Stakeholders are "Stakeholder salience prioritizes attention using power,
sentence the selected framework. important." legitimacy and urgency."
Case Components + evidence. "Farmers matter "Farmers have legitimacy because the initiative affects their
application because soil, income and adoption burden; urgency comes from current
agriculture." transition pressure and soil/water risks."
Nuance Trade-off, limit, missing "The initiative is "The initiative may support adoption, but credibility depends
data, or residual risk. sustainable." on MRV quality, farmer bargaining power and whether benefits
are not captured mainly by corporate supply chains."
Conclusion Judgement or "They should do it." "Proceed if governance, independent verification, farmer
recommendation with grievance channels and benefit-sharing are built in."
conditions.
avoid Do not confuse the lens: SDGs are not proof of impact; a report is not proof of performance; inherent risk
ignores mitigation; residual risk includes mitigation; impact materiality starts from people/planet; financial
materiality starts from effects on the company.
Page 4 of 33 1. Exam Method: How to Read and Answer
Detailed Open-Book Exam
Support Paper
Expanded source-of-truth version for the ERS exam: core concepts
explained in plain language, where each framework applies, what to look
for in a case, key class cases, and a solved STEP up for Agriculture mock
exam.
USE CASE DESIGN HOW TO USE
Paper-only open-book exam A4, double-sided print Find the exam signal, pick
support when you have not friendly, light color coding, the lens, apply case facts,
studied enough and need compact but more show one tension or limit,
fast, reliable retrieval. explanatory than the first then conclude.
version.
Color key Core exam posture
blue Definitions and concepts This paper gives the material and the logic. It is not a
green Frameworks and models script. In the exam, write in your own words, tie every
orange Cases and examples claim to the case, and avoid overclaiming. Strong ERS
purple Exam-use cues answers normally admit that a case has trade-offs,
red Pitfalls and distinctions missing data, stakeholder conflicts or residual risks.
grey Nuance or source-handling note
,Table of Contents
One-page exam map
1. Exam method: how to read and answer
2. Framework picker: what the question is probably testing
3. ERS foundations: sustainability, ethics, responsibility
4. Grand challenges, obstacles and life-cycle thinking
5. Stakeholders and salience
6. Due diligence and inherent risk
7. Reporting, standards, CSRD, double materiality and finance
8. Ethics and compliance systems and residual risk
9. Alternative business, regenerative design and Doughnut logic
10. Responsible leadership and activism
11. Ethical dilemmas, fraud and F.O.R.C.L.E.A.R.
12. ERS tensions, paradoxes, SDGs and B Corp
13. Systems thinking
14. Collaboration and collective robust action
15. Class cases and reusable exam cues
16. Solved mock exam: STEP up for Agriculture
17. Question-type support and compact answer material
18. Glossary, key distinctions and final checklist
Page 2 of 33 Table of Contents
,One-page Exam Map
What ERS is asking Default exam answer What usually scores
Ethics: what is right, who has 1. Name the issue and lens. 2. A precise concept, case evidence,
duties, what rights matter, what Define the lens in one sentence. 3. component-by-component
kind of organization/manager is Apply components to case facts. 4. application, balanced judgement,
created by the decision. Add a tension, risk, limit or missing and no generic sustainability
Responsibility: how firms take information. 5. Conclude with a slogan. A short answer with correct
responsibility for impacts on justified judgement. logic is better than a long answer
stakeholders, society and value that retells the case.
chains.
Sustainability: whether action
respects future generations,
ecological limits and social
foundations.
Question signal Use this lens Core material to retrieve Typical nuance
Big societal problem; Grand challenge Urgency, uncertainty, complexity, evaluativity; A company initiative rarely solves the
climate, water, soil, obstacles: knowing, valuation, communication, whole problem; show realistic
poverty, food coordination, trust, access/reach, institutions. contribution.
systems
Who matters most, Stakeholder Power, legitimacy, urgency; latent, expectant, High salience is not the same as
who should be salience definitive stakeholders. moral worth. Low-power affected
prioritized? groups can still be ethically central.
Can we partner with Due diligence Risk topics; countries, sectors, public officials, Separate what the case already tells
this company/client/ contract value/nature, past events; inherent you from missing information you
supplier? risk before mitigation. must collect.
Policy, code, E&C system and Governance, code, whistleblowing, tone/ A formal policy reduces risk only if it
whistleblowing, residual risk culture, training, third-party DD; residual risk is implemented, used, monitored and
culture, training, after controls. enforced.
scandal prevention
Report, data, Double Context/value chain, IROs, affected Impact materiality is people/planet;
material topic, CSRD, materiality stakeholders/users, impact and financial financial materiality is effect on the
ESRS, IROs criteria, thresholds, reporting quality. firm. They overlap but are not the
same.
Loan, bank, Sustainable Eligibility, alignment, DNSH, minimum A green activity can still carry ethical,
taxonomy, green finance safeguards, physical/transition risk, credit/ historical, supply-chain or
financing, ESG reputation/compliance risk. governance risks.
controversies
What should they do Ethical dilemma Virtue, consequences, duties; F.O.R.C.L.E.A.R.; Do not answer only with outcomes;
under moral fraud triangle if misconduct. rights, law, duties and character can
pressure? limit what is acceptable.
Conflicting goals, ERS tensions Paradoxical mindset; acceptance, separation, Make both poles legitimate before
certification, SDG synthesis; SDG and B Corp tensions. judging the response.
contradictions,
growth vs limits
Solution may backfire Systems Stocks, flows, variables, feedback loops, Assess second-order effects, not just
or shift harm thinking delays, leverage points, unintended effects. intended benefits.
elsewhere
Many actors must Collaboration Participatory architecture, multivocal Collaboration can create scale but
work together inscription, distributed experimentation; actor also lowest-common-denominator,
roles and trust. accountability and greenwashing
risks.
One-page Exam Map Page 3 of 33
, 1. Exam Method: How to Read and Answer
exam The exam is open book, but it is still time-limited. The difficulty is not remembering labels; it is recognizing
the right concept and applying it precisely. Do not write everything you know. Write the material that the
question asks for.
Read the question word by word Mark case evidence first
• Name/cite: give the concept, stakeholder or risk Circle actors, geography, sector, promises, goals,
topic; add a short identifier. value-chain position, measurement systems,
• Argue why: link the claim to framework criteria and governance, public controversy, stakeholder claims,
case facts. time horizon, and missing information. One precise
• Justify priority: choose and defend with criteria; case fact per component is usually better than broad
do not merely list. description.
• Assess/evaluate: show strengths, weaknesses, Useful mental check: if your answer could fit any
missing data and a judgement. company, it is probably too generic.
• Recommend: propose conditions, mitigation or
monitoring, not only a slogan.
• Compare: use common dimensions; avoid writing
two separate summaries.
Answer What it should contain Bad version Better version
element
Concept One sentence defining "Stakeholders are "Stakeholder salience prioritizes attention using power,
sentence the selected framework. important." legitimacy and urgency."
Case Components + evidence. "Farmers matter "Farmers have legitimacy because the initiative affects their
application because soil, income and adoption burden; urgency comes from current
agriculture." transition pressure and soil/water risks."
Nuance Trade-off, limit, missing "The initiative is "The initiative may support adoption, but credibility depends
data, or residual risk. sustainable." on MRV quality, farmer bargaining power and whether benefits
are not captured mainly by corporate supply chains."
Conclusion Judgement or "They should do it." "Proceed if governance, independent verification, farmer
recommendation with grievance channels and benefit-sharing are built in."
conditions.
avoid Do not confuse the lens: SDGs are not proof of impact; a report is not proof of performance; inherent risk
ignores mitigation; residual risk includes mitigation; impact materiality starts from people/planet; financial
materiality starts from effects on the company.
Page 4 of 33 1. Exam Method: How to Read and Answer
