Make a real world impact. Focus through a wide–whole systems thinking–lens that prioritizes people and the natural environment. Leverage sustainable design theory, practice, processes, and materials across disciplines to build an interdisciplinary portfolio that prioritizes sustainability.

The MBA Summer School in Sustainable Business in the Global Economy explores the intersection of global business practices and sustainability, focusing on how companies can thrive economically while minimizing their environmental impact. It covers the importance of sustainable value chains and the role of international business in promoting a green economy.

Reflecting sustainability criteria, especially climate change, in financial markets is increasingly gaining attention as opportunities and risks arising in this context are changing business practices. The course will prepare participants to understand major drivers and constraints of transforming the financial system into a more sustainable one. Furthermore, it will familiarize participants with the business, regulatory, and technical perspective of sustainable finance and will acquaint them to take an active part in the discussion around the topic. The course aims to enable financial professionals to integrate Sustainable Finance related aspects into their work through new knowledge and tools for advising their clients and business partners.

Climate change presents a risk to the global economy and consequently the finance sector. However, it also presents an opportunity for innovative financing to increase the economic and social resilience to climate impacts. As facilitators of the economy, financial institutions have a central role in the transformation to low carbon and climate-resilient development. Their responsibility is twofold: greening their portfolios towards Paris compatible financing and investments, and reflecting and integrating climate-related risks into their risk management processes. This gradual process involves harmonizing short-term business cycles and investment horizons with systemic and long-term thinking by all actors from the financial sector (e.g. banks, asset managers, insurers, pension funds, investment consultants, regulators, rating agencies). This process is supported by public actors who moderate the structural change required for a transition to climate-resilient economies. This course provides the basics of finance and investment for assessing the financial viability of investments in adaptation projects. It clusters business models to provide an understanding of the parameters according to the project scale and, for example, revenue models, ownership structure, and value proposition, and will link to the financing perspective. Different investors and intermediaries have very different investment strategies, levels of risk appetite, return expectations, and investment horizons. Crowding in the right investor for a project is essential to ensure their long-term involvement and the required scale-up of investment volumes.

The executive short course is about Gender Equality and Women Empowerment. Women are still often worse off than men, and therefore including a focus on women empowerment will be instrumental to closing the gender gap. In order for gender equality to improve, women’s and men’s needs and opportunities need to be addressed not only at the community level but also system-wide. Attention to gender and women empowerment-related issues and institutionalization is therefore important. The program will address a number of relevant issues, ranging from strategy and policy towards agency and constraints at the individual level and ways to overcome these.

Environment Social and Governance criteria (ESG) and Impact Investing have gained a lot of traction in recent years and will continue to do so in the (post-) Corona world. Calls for a green and socially equitable re-start are very prominent. The EU’s Green New Deal (“Green Deal”) and the UN`s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are good examples of how ESG criteria and ideas of Impact Investing are being incorporated into policy objectives. International development agencies have embraced ESG and impact criteria to guide investment decisions, as have many family offices, investment vehicles, and other institutional players, ranging from foundations and philanthropists to the private sector. ESG and Impact Investing are approaches to finance that are related to each other, although they may occupy different ends of the spectrum in terms of methodological intensity or operational mindset.

The tropics are one of the most diverse regions on Earth, and it hosts 80% of the planets terrestrial species and 95% of the corals and mangroves. The health and conservation of the tropical ecosystems are vital for life on Earth and the general well being of humans. Many foods and medicine resources come from the tropics, and the balance of the region impacts not only the world economy but also the global biological diversity.

Our certificates provide an opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills needed to integrate sustainable management solutions and systems thinking into any industry. It enables students who may already have a graduate degree and/or industry experience to add the language and tools of sustainability to their skill set while becoming a part of a growing global network of sustainability leaders.

The FSSP is a semester-long, interdisciplinary certificate program open to all students with an interest in food, sustainability and the environment. It is particularly well-suited to those hoping to cultivate a career in the food or environmental industries or seeking to continue their education at the graduate level. There are three tracks: Food Studies, Environmental Studies & Sustainability, and the dual-track. For each track, students take an Italian class, the 1-credit core course, and then choose three or four other FSSP courses. Each thematic course includes a series of co- and extra-curricular activities that are an integral part of the curriculum; they include guest lectures, site visits, field trips, culinary activities, research projects, and other hands-on experiences. These activities allow students to directly observe the concepts studied in the classroom and analyze issues surrounding food, sustainability, and the environment in an Italian and global context from varied perspectives.

Sustainability encompasses a broad spectrum of interdisciplinary topics that address promoting human prosperity while protecting the planet.

Stand out in a crowded field with a Business Sustainability and Ethics Certificate. The Business Sustainability and Ethics Microdegree consists of 4-courses providing a concentrated perspective into the complex field of business law, economics, and ethics.

The Design for Sustainability and Circular Economies Certificate will facilitate and support design professionals in their practice-based enquiry into design for sustainability. The continued professional development course structure will increase awareness and shine a light on opportunities and challenges facing design practices by critically evaluating the current cultural, social, economic and ecological landscapes and interrogating their existing models and approaches to design for sustainability and circular economies.

In the four-course online Impact and Sustainable Investing certificate program you’ll build foundational and practical expertise in impact investing for equity and sustainability. As global challenges mount, investors and corporations are increasingly striving to align their products and processes with sustainability and social justice goals. Meanwhile, local communities and advocates for social and racial justice and sustainability are developing innovative solutions that require capital investment. There is a growing need for professionals who have the vision, knowledge, and tools to harness the vast potential of the capital marketplace to complement strategies for positive change.

The short-term Sustainable Purchasing and Supply Chain Management certificate defines a body of knowledge needed to effectively develop supply chain strategies, programs and activities to address industry and government’s sustainability challenges. Supply management professionals are uniquely positioned to influence a firm’s sustainability and social responsibility efforts and to monitor the performance of supply base partners.

It is paramount that we all engage to advance human sustainability, and a sustainable food system is foundational.