7 ISSN 1822–8402 EUROPEAN INTEGRATION STUDIES. 2012. No 6 CLIMATE CHANGE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – AS EXPERIENCE IN THE STUDY COURSES Natalija Cudecka-Purina, Dzintra Atstaja BA School of Business and Finance, Latvia e-mail: natalija@vct.lv, dzintra.atstaja@gmail.com http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.6.1488 Sustainable development and climate change retain stable position in the study process. Technological possibilities and the inventiveness of teaching staff allow combine diverse methods, enabling the students to obtain not only theoretical knowledge, but also strengthen the conviction about the necessity to pursue environmentally friendly lifestyles and introduce green principles in entrepreneurship. The Agenda 21 can be considered as a starting point in terms of pursuing a global model and global action plan of economic and social development. The importance of sustainable development was put on the agenda of many international organisations, not only the United Nations itself, but also governments from all over the world, business organisations, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and also individuals. Since then, sustainable development is perceived as a collective responsibility rather than seen as someone else’s. In its essence, sustainable development implies that all economic and technological progress must not jeopardize the survival of society as a whole and in particular put the environment at risk. This remit puts an extraordinary pressure on innovation. It questions business as usual concerning, for instance, public affairs, corporate interests and human behaviours, in general. This will remain a continuous effort as new social and environmental challenges emerge. Original approach to the study process is of vital importance for optimal result. Sustainable development and climate change open wide possibilities of illustrating and presenting comparisons for creative work. To teach sustainable development and climate change we can use models developed by other related disciplines, like ecological economics and environmental economics et al. For teaching Sustainable development and climate change it is of vital importance to apply different methods in order the students would not only acquire theoretical knowledge, but also strengthen their confdence about environmentally friendly lifestyle and eco-effciency principles in business, as well as encourage active involvement in sustainable development processes. This paper provides not only theoretical insight on the problem, but also gives an example of Latvian case in the feld of waste management. The authors of the article sharing her teaching and researcher experience and present conclusions and practical samples for perfecting one’s knowledge and hope that this experience will be of use for they colleagues and will be grateful for any discussion, criticism and contributions to the topic under discussion. Keywords: Case study, Climate change, regional waste management, study process, sustainable development. Introduction Adaption of climate change is increasingly becoming a management priority for government and private sector organizations across the globe, partly driven by a rationale that successful adaption will reduce the consequences of climatic impacts that are unavoidable Saleem J. et al., (2010). The European Council in Göteborg (2001) adopted the frst EU Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS). This was complemented by an external dimension in 2002 by the European Council in Barcelona in view of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (2002). However, unsustainable trends in relation to climate change and energy use, threats to public health, poverty and social exclusion, demographic pressure and ageing, management of natural resources, biodiversity loss, land use and transport still persist and new challenges are arising. Since these negative trends bring about a sense of urgency, short- term action is required, whilst maintaining a longer term perspective. The main challenge is to gradually change our current unsustainable consumption and production patterns and the non- integrated approach to policy-making. The most common defnition of sustainable development was developed just in 1987 by United Nations in the report “Our Common Future” and is widespread used since United Nations Conference of Environment and Development, which took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. According to the UN, Sustainable development is one “which meets the needs of present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs” (McDoughall F., et al., 2003). Many Authors have stressed that there is necessary drastic reduction of environmental impact of economic activities to avoid collapse of civilization and change should come from society by transforming dominant cultural patterns, changing attitudes and behaviour (Assadourian, 2010; Jackson, 2009; Daly 1996). To reduce economy’s impact on environment awareness of environmental issues is required from society and entrepreneurs. While transition countries do not have