Students are interested in greater integration of sustainability into their curriculum. The Yale School of the Environment and the Yale School of Management conducted a study and found that half of business students worldwide are worried about the effects of global warming.

Their report ‘The Rising Leaders in Social and Environmental Sustainability’ was released in March 2022 and included insights from 2015. The data show 80% of respondents believe that businesses should initiate more action to address climate change. Moreover, 51% of graduates are willing to accept a lower salary to work for a company with responsible environmental practices, and 26% say that they would not accept a job at a company with poor environmental practices. Since 2015, the number of those who understand the problem has increased from 21% to 41%. Along with this, 52% say that they are very concerned about climate change. The study includes responses from 2035 business education students from around the world, and it is a collaboration between the Yale Center for Business and the Environment, CBEY; Global Network for Advanced Management, GNAM; and the Yale Climate Change Awareness Program, YPCCC. The study was co-authored by Stuart DeCew, Executive Director of CBEY. He believes that cooperation of different schools at the same university towards a common goal demonstrates Yale’s ability to use different experiences and networks across the campus.

Oxford has not been lagging behind with 600 applications for 25 spots in their 2022-23 one-year MSc in Sustainability, Entreprise and the Environment. The course includes eight core modules, two electives and a dissertation. Saïd Business School aims to increase their offering of innovative solutions to overcome the problems that humanity and companies will face in the coming decades. The course covers a wide range of disciplines from environmental economics to the physics of climate change. Experts are teaching students about the various socio-technical interventions to tackle these eco-problems. Last year’s student group consisted of 23 participants, among whom 60% were women, including representatives from 13 countries.

The global environmental recovery has been unexpectedly boosted by COVID-19 lockdowns, which is also motivating business schools to continue taking actions in order to meet the UN’s goals. For example, NTU Singapore offers new courses in corporate sustainability in collaboration with Global Compact Network Singapore, PwC Singapore, WTW, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.