Sustainability goes mainstream for business education

David Dunne, director of MBA Programs at the University of Victoria’s Gustavson School of Business, speaks to students in a classroom on campus.Until recently, Canadian business schools typically covered climate change, social impact and other sustainability topics as curriculum add-ons.Prodded by students and industry, a growing number of business schools are expanding efforts to embed sustainability into courses and research.

Student interest is credited, in part, for a revamped MBA this fall at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management. “Young people increasingly have an interest in some sort of sustainable business, not least because they are the ones who will inherit the Earth,” says John-Paul Ferguson, academic director of the MBA program at Desautels.

Lang commerce student Sophia Steele and her teammates had to recommend how a wind farm developer in Australia could proceed with a turbine project without harming an endangered species of bats. The capstone project she completed last semester helped her realize the value of employers with ethical and sustainable practices.“When you work for a company, you want to feel represented by the views that company holds,” Ms. Steele says.

A litmus test for schools, he says, is their commitment to delivering sustainable finance courses that teach more than profit maximization. Meanwhile, Smith’s master of finance degree includes a sustainable finance course, while about 24 per cent of the curriculum in the MBA covers issues of corporate social responsibility, according to a school spokeswoman. MBA students can add a certificate in social impact, which includes completing a major project for a business or non-profit organization.

The broader perspective appeals to Adi Vashist, a Rotman MBA student and a co-president of Net Impact, which is part of a global network of student sustainability clubs. In April, the Rotman club, alongside industry sponsors and the Prince of Wales’s Accounting for Sustainability project – established in 2004 to make sustainable decision making “business as usual” – will play host to an international student case competition on scaling up sustainable financing.

Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business is midway through faculty efforts to set new learning goals for students to develop a broad view of value creation, not just profits. They expect to be introduced by 2021, at the earliest.

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