Tag: Sustainability

As our planet gets hotter and hotter, industries around the world are setting targets to achieve carbon neutrality, and higher education is no exception. For some universities, this means exploring ways to tap geothermal energy – heat from the ground – to tackle their heating and cooling needs, which traditionally account for a huge chunk of energy consumption in buildings.

Though this might sound high-tech, these initiatives are just the latest step in a centuries-old tradition. Humans have been making use of the energy under our feet for thousands of years. Archaeological evidence suggests that some indigenous groups in North America were using geothermal energy for cooking at least 10,000 years ago, while the Ancient Romans used geothermal energy to heat their baths and homes. Meanwhile, the earliest documented geothermal district heating system dates all the way back to 14th-century France.

Today, many campuses are leveraging geothermal energy for their heating and cooling needs, in ways that are much more efficient and often cheaper to run than the fossil-fuelled systems they replace.

To dig a little deeper into the issue, QS Insights Magazine spoke to researchers, advocacy groups and industry players, to get their takes on how institutions are making use of geothermal energy systems and what impact this might have on their carbon reduction efforts.

Geothermal, geoexchange: what’s the difference?

“Let’s just say that there are lots of words that sometimes get used to mean more or less the same thing in this space,” Fleur Loveridge, Professor of Geo-Energy Engineering at Leeds University in the UK, tells QS Insights Magazine.

Take “geothermal energy”. Basically, this is when you get any thermal energy, such as heat, from the ground. But this can be at quite a lot of different depths, says Professor Loveridge, ranging from shallow depths, where the heat is actually a relatively low temperature. around 12°C, to quite deep, where the heat can be elevated to 80°C, for example.

The types of systems that campuses are generally deploying operate from the shallower depths of the ground, as opposed to deep geothermal energy. Deep geothermal energy for electricity, where water is hot enough to produce steam to drive turbines is possible, but needs specific geological conditions for this to be applicable, and it’s unlikely to be done at only a campus scale, according to Professor Loveridge.

The various terms that cover the shallower type of geothermal system include “ground source heat pump systems”, “shallow geothermal energy” and “geoexchange” – all effectively the same, according to the academic. “We have large quantities of low-grade, or low-temperature, heat stored in the ground that we can access through geoexchange, shallow geothermal [and] ground source heat pump systems.”

So what are campuses doing?

It might seem counterintuitive, but at those smaller depths under the earth’s surface, temperatures remain fairly constant throughout the year. This means it can be cooler or warmer compared to air temperatures above ground, and this characteristic can be used to help cool and heat homes and other buildings.

Take the example of Oxford Brookes University, which back in 2022 announced the installation of a new geoexchange heating system, in what it said was a first for a UK university.

“Effectively, we take free energy from the ground,” says Gavin Hodgson, Decarbonisation Strategic Lead at the UK’s Oxford Brookes.

Hodgson explains that this is done, broadly speaking, by drilling holes deep into the ground and installing a looped system of pipes, which circulate glycol or another substance (in Oxford Brookes’ case, environmentally friendly vegetable oil), exchanging heat with the ground, and piping it back up to an energy centre on campus. The low-grade energy is fed into a heat pump, which heats or cools it to the desired temperature, ready for transfer where needed.

In some cases, geothermal systems can also act as a storage system for heat – a sort of “thermal piggy bank”. Princeton University in the United States is working on one such system, drilling thousands of geoexchange boreholes to form a closed-loop system deep under campus, which takes heat out of buildings in summer and stores this in the ground by slightly warming the rock, and then uses the same boreholes and warmed rock as a heat source for their buildings in the winter.

What are the pros and cons?

There are many positives to these geothermal systems, especially when compared with others such as the gas boiler heating system they’re replacing. Broadly speaking, their greenhouse emissions are lower, they’re much more efficient and are often cheaper to run.

At the moment, Professor Loveridge at Leeds University is helping to investigate a potential low-carbon system on her campus. They’re drilling holes in the ground, eight to be precise, to investigate its thermal and hydrogeological properties, with the aim of eventually designing a system to take some of the university’s buildings off its current steam heating network powered directly by fossil fuels, and putting them on a low-carbon solution instead.

Although upfront costs to installing these systems are higher than for traditional heating and cooling systems, geothermal systems should be cheaper to run, she says, because they have much greater energy efficiency.

A large part of this is due to the use of heat pumps. Geoexchange and shallow geothermal don’t have to operate with a heat pump, says Professor Loveridge, but they usually do, because the depths that they’re sourcing the heat from are quite shallow. “The heat might only be 12°C, which on its own is not very usable; but this is where the magic of the heat pump comes in,” she says.

A heat pump is a device that allows us to transfer energy – it doesn’t generate it, explains Professor Loveridge. You put in a small amount of electrical energy, and it increases the temperature to something that would be usable in our heating systems.

“The real beauty of these systems is because it’s energy transfer, not generation, the efficiency is really high.”

In other words, more energy comes out for every unit of electricity put in – something along the order of 3 to 4 units of energy for every 1 unit of electricity put in, far better than the probably less than 1 unit of energy with a traditional gas boiler.

In the case of Oxford Brookes’ system, Hodgson says that at its peak, they’ve seen 4.6 units of energy for every 1 unit of electricity put in.

And of course, carbon emissions are reduced. In a 2022 report on the future of heat pumps, the International Energy Agency (IEA) states that heat pumps reduce greenhouse gas emissions “by at least 20 percent compared with a gas boiler”, even when running on emissions‐intensive electricity. This reduction can be as large as 80 percent in countries with cleaner electricity, it adds.

“Depending on the relative prices of gas and electricity, your running costs should be less,” says Professor Loveridge. “And if you run this using green electricity, your carbon emissions are really low.”

Are campuses particularly suited to using geothermal systems?
There are several aspects to universities which mean they can be well-suited to these sorts of geothermal systems, according to Mike Walters, Principal at US engineering and technical services firm Salas O’Brien. The firm helps plan and implement low/no-carbon solutions, including geothermal systems, for sites such as college and university campuses.

“Higher education campuses are unique in that they are a large group of diverse buildings that are owned by a single entity, which operates with a long-term perspective,” Walters tells QS Insights Magazine via email.

“Beyond the long-term thinking that guides much of higher education decision processes, these campuses simply have natural advantages for geoexchange,” he adds. “Many (not all!) have large footprints: available land area in the form of parking lots, recreational fields or even future building construction sites where geoexchange systems can be constructed.”

When asked whether demand had gone up in recent years, Walters says demand for geoexchange systems “steadily increased” in North America over the last 20 years, while the firm has seen activity shoot up more recently.

“We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the desire for these systems in the last five to seven years, and an intense spike in activity since the US federal government passed significant incentives as part of the Inflation Reduction Act,” he says.

This increased demand is borne out not just in the increased number of geoexchange projects, he adds, but also in their scale. “Our average project size has gone from relatively small geoexchange systems comprised of a few dozen vertical bores, to systems that are 150 to 400 bores in number.”

Does all this make a difference? What impact do universities actually have?

Compared to other sectors, higher education isn’t really one of the top primary source carbon-emitting industries in itself. But this doesn’t mean that the sector is insignificant.

“Higher ed matters [not because of] its carbon footprint, but its educational footprint,” says Julian Dautremont, Director of Programs at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), an organisation in the United States which pushes for colleges to take the lead in sustainability issues.

“All the people who go through higher education end up being the key decision makers that drive whether we stay on an unsustainable path, or we get on a more sustainable path,” he says. “So, it has incredible impact in the knowledge, skills and values that it helps develop in its students.” And students have also shown interest in attaining such knowledge. According to QS International Student Survey 2023, over 40 percent of prospective students interested in UK universities are actively researching the institutions’ environmental sustainability strategy and efforts.

In addition, higher education institutions do have real power and influence in their research agendas. “All the renewable energy technologies that we need to figure out how to power our society, those are being developed in part by researchers at higher ed institutions,” says Dautremont. “And so that’s another mechanism through which higher ed can make an outsize contribution.”

And while its carbon footprint may be smaller than the fossil fuel or agriculture sectors, higher education is still a billion-dollar industry, and holds a lot of cultural sway, as Jack Ruane, University League Manager at UK student campaign network, People and Planet, points out.

“Here in the UK, education is one of our largest exports, you could argue – it’s a multi billion-pound industry. We have a long tradition of having universities at the centre of towns, a lot of our universities are integral and central parts of towns and cities. They’re places that numerous stakeholders interact with every day,” he tells QS Insights Magazine. “It’s because of that importance really for so many different stakeholders that I think universities are a very fertile place for behaviour change to take place.

“When universities make a stand on an issue, it can be very powerful,” he adds. “It can really make a bold statement about what the academic community is saying is right or wrong.”

Similarly, Hodgson at Oxford Brookes agrees that it is important for universities, which often have a high standing in their local communities, to be showing leadership. “If universities don’t progress with decarbonisation, then other smaller companies, all of our supply chains and so forth, won’t follow suit,” he says. “It’s very important that we show leadership on it and positive action.”

As a sector, is higher education doing enough?

It’s hard not to feel the spectre of climate change. Earlier this month, the European Union’s climate monitor announced that global mean temperatures had, for the first time, breached a key 1.5°C threshold across an entire year.

It’s also important to bear in mind the bigger picture – operations of buildings as a whole account for around 30 percent of global final energy consumption, according to the IEA, and space and water heating account for almost half of global energy use in buildings.

Meanwhile, at the launch of last year’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report by the world’s leading climate scientists, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned: “This report is a clarion call to massively fast-track climate efforts by every country, and every sector and on every timeframe.”

In the face of all this, what more should higher education as a sector be doing? Perhaps, as Dautremont says, it’s not really a question of quantity, but of timing and pace.

“It’s not so much ‘more’ as ‘quicker’, I think is the name of the game,” he says. “The scientific authorities are calling for bigger reductions than I think campuses are on track to make. So that’s to me the big picture.

“The specific strategies that institutions use to reduce their emissions are going to be pretty context-specific. But it does seem like we need to step up our game, and be faster about it.”

Read more articles like this from QS Insights Magazine, Issue 14.

We are in the middle of a global climate emergency. And although this is a harrowing thought, today, there are innovators, forward-thinkers and activists in universities and business schools using their skills to put in place effective initiatives and strategies to move towards a more sustainable world.

In 2019, more than 7,000 higher and further education institutions from six continents announced that they were declaring a Climate Emergency and agreed to undertake a three-point plan to address the crisis through their work with students.

The three-point plan included committing to going carbon neutral by 2030 or 2050 at the very latest, mobilising more resources for action-oriented climate change research and skills creation and increasing the delivery of environmental and sustainability education across curricula, campus and community outreach programmes.

Higher education institutions making sustainable waves

Kenya’s Strathmore University runs on clean energy and has set up its own 600-kilowatt photovoltaic grid tie system; Tongji University in China has significantly invested in delivering a sustainability education curriculum and encourages other education institutions to do the same; the University of California committed to the system-wide goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2025, while others US universities, such as the American University and Colgate University achieved carbon neutrality by 2019.

The University of Strathclyde now has its first operationally carbon neutral building, The National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland HQ, which is heated by a new low-carbon, renewable and circular district energy network. As the first network of its kind in Scotland, the University of Strathclyde hopes to inspire others to adopt this technology.

Heriot-Watt University (HWU) is currently developing a Net Zero Community Hub, designed as a physical and virtual hub of inspiration, information and innovation to engage and equip communities with the skills and knowledge required to tackle the challenge of reaching Net Zero.

Charlotte Bonner, a Director for Students Organising for Sustainability noted the importance of the plan in 2019: “Young people around the world feel that schools, colleges and universities have been too slow to react to the crisis that is now bearing down on us. We have no time to lose. We will be calling on those who haven’t yet supported this initiative, to come on board. Of course, the most important element is the action that follows.”

And it is the actions of universities and business schools incorporating green and net zero policies that QS Insights Magazine would like to focus on.

Federico Frattini, Dean of POLIMI Graduate School of Management believes that to create sustainable, impactful organisations, HEIs need to start from building a more conscious and meaningful style to lead organisations. “We need to switch from the idea that businesses are such a technical system designed to maximise some measurable objectives, to a view of organisations as expressive systems where their inner meaning is to give sense to the work of people,” says Frattini.

“Through these sense-making activities, we create energy, engagement, commitment, positive emotions. That is what can unleash the achievement of higher, more expansive purposes,” he adds.

Professor Chirantan Chatterjee, Professor of Economics of Innovation and Global Health (SPRU – Science Policy Research Unit) at the University of Sussex Business School says: “Charity, they say, begins at home, so does net-zero consciousness in HEIs.

“Our research on transitions, adaptation costs, innovation and behavioural responses integrated into the teaching curriculum will be fundamental into living greener lives by our children tomorrow.”

Dr Adrian Ely, Reader in Technology and Sustainability (SPRU – Science Policy Research Unit) at the University of Sussex Business School adds: “Social responsibility, ethical practice and sustainability are at the heart of the Business School. We are a school that cares about improving outcomes for business and other organisations for the benefit of society.

“Our school is a member of the United Nations Global Compact which means we are part of a network of companies across the world who work towards the Global Compact’s vision of creating ’a sustainable and inclusive global economy that delivers lasting benefits to people, communities and markets.’”

As part of the UN Global Compact membership, Sussex signed up to the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative. As a member institution, Sussex incorporates global social responsibility and sustainability values into their teaching and research, working closely with organisations to understand the challenges faced, encouraging debate and innovation to improve policy and practice relating to these issues.

The importance of partnerships in sustainability

Swansea University’s SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC), in collaboration with partners including Tata Steel, is pioneering Active Buildings® which generate, store and release their own solar energy. This includes the Active Classroom®, which was developed in 2016 as the UK’s first energy positive classroom.

Sussex Business School’s Science Policy Research Unit recently partnered with Seoul National University to deliver a tailored Sustainability and Innovation summer programme in collaboration with local sustainable businesses. But why is this important to both partners?

Chatterjee says that South Korea is an “ideal exemplar of Industrial Revolution 4.0 to 5.0 transitions” while keeping in mind sustainability concerns.

“Seoul National University is among the top 30 in the world. Their interdisciplinary cohort of students from across departments brought curiosity into this programme. SPRU has a long history of working with South Korea and being involved with its national innovation and economic development journey.”

POLIMI Graduate School of Management has announced a partnership with the Green Future Project to finance high-impact sustainable projects with the objective to mitigate part of the “carbon footprint” generated by its employees over the course of a year.

“Green Future Project offers the opportunity to finance the regeneration and conservation of natural reserves, the development of renewable energy plants and the regeneration of marine habitats to companies that want to engage in concrete sustainability actions,” says Frattini.

“Sharing common sustainability objectives is what convinced us to collaborate with the Green Future Project. Through this partnership, the school will support the regeneration of the degraded mangrove forest in Marovolavo in Madagascar, the planting of native tree species, the production of clean energy generated by the Tamil Nadu wind farm located in India and forest protection of the Canadé reserve in Ecuador, one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the world,” Frattini adds.

In fact, POLIMI was recently awarded ‘The B Corp Certification’ accolade, making it the first Italian and only European business school to be accredited, demonstrating the business school’s positive impact performance for workers, communities, customers, suppliers and the environment.

“The decision to go through the process was to really test ourselves as a sustainable organisation. We are trying to establish a serious commitment in being authentically a sustainable organisation, authentic in teaching sustainability or teaching impact,” Frattini adds.

Frattini believes business schools and universities cannot teach sustainability if they do not put it into practice themselves, and one of the main reasons POLIMI wanted to aim for B Corp Certification, Frattini says, is because they understand the role that every company will play in building a better tomorrow for everyone.

He says: “Every single business will need to rethink its purpose, putting front and centre the role that it wants to hold in society. And of course, this is even more relevant for us as a school, because we can directly inspire people from different companies to join forces with us on this journey.”

Read more articles like this from QS Insights Magazine, Issue 11.

What does it mean to empower and educate a woman in today’s environment? By changing one woman’s world, we are setting the stage for a more equitable, greener future for all.

I sometimes like to reflect on when my fervour for women’s empowerment and environmental conservation first took root. I grew up in the Philippines surrounded by very strong female role models, my Chinese Filipina Grandmother who lived until 101 was the matriarch of our family. She had seven children, one son and six daughters, my mother was her fourth child. As a result, growing up amidst my mother’s entrepreneurial sisters gave me a distinct outlook on life.

You may have heard that the Philippines is often described as a nation of driven women, who directly and indirectly run the family units, businesses, government agencies and haciendas or plantation estates. You must remember, we’ve had two women presidents. And the Philippines is also one of the most gender-equal societies in the world, in fact in Asia Pacific it is on par with New Zealand in terms of gender equality. However, I also became aware of poverty and the great inequality that surrounded me at a very early age. The Philippines has one of the highest rates of income inequality in the world, and even if Filipinos are known as some of the happiest people, the Philippines is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia. Close to 20 percent of the 110 million population, live under the poverty line.

To top it off, the Philippines is one of the most hazard-exposed countries in the world. When we were children, my siblings and I constantly missed school because of floods, earthquakes, typhoons and volcanic eruptions. The country is especially vulnerable to the impacts of natural disasters and climate change, because of its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, making it prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions caused by the movement of tectonic plates. Every time a natural disaster hits, it completely devastates the poor populations. This was really heartbreaking to see, and made me realise first-hand, how climate really impacts impoverished and vulnerable populations.

Mum used to involve us in charitable community activities, especially those supporting women and children, and taught my siblings and me a very important lesson: that privilege comes with great responsibility – values that I strive to live by and pass onto my own four children today.

My own journey since then, as the founder of initiatives such as Women on a Mission, HER Planet Earth, Investors for Climate, has been a testament to my belief in the transformative power of women in shaping our world’s future. ‘From Parity to Planet’ is not merely a topic for me; it’s a lived experience, an ongoing commitment that I carry very close to my heart, endeavouring to align my actions with my values every step of the way.

Over the years, I’ve witnessed, first-hand, women taking the helm—driving change, inspiring communities, and, above all, never taking ‘no’ for an answer. Despite our numerous achievements, the scales of representation are often imbalanced, particularly in pivotal roles that decide the trajectory of our planet.

In my observations, what makes women’s leadership invaluable? It’s our inherent ability to blend empathy with action. Women grasp the beauty of balance in nature, recognizing that every aspect of our environment, from the tiniest microorganism to vast landscapes, has a role to play.

Globally, women stand tall as stewards of the Earth. They are the farmers ensuring the continuity of fertile land, the CEOs advocating for green policies, and the mothers instilling eco-conscious values in the young minds they nurture.

Yet, understanding these stories isn’t enough. As we address the climate crisis, the convergence of gender and education becomes paramount. Access to higher education offers women the tools to understand, innovate and tackle complex environmental issues. An educated woman is equipped to not only comprehend these challenges but to also design sustainable solutions rooted in local contexts.

Reflecting on gender-smart climate finance, my vision is clear. I dream of a world where women aren’t merely recipients of aid but active contributors to decision-making processes. A world where climate finance is multidimensional, considering race, age, socio-economic status, and, above all, education.

These past 12 years, through the work of my two NGOs, Women on a Mission and HER Planet Earth, I’ve had the great privilege of taking hundreds of women on challenging, often pioneering expeditions that really push them outside of their comfort zone. These expeditions have been to raise awareness and funds for vulnerable women.

Without a doubt, one of the most important lessons from this unusual journey for me has been that true success and leadership is not about yielding power or being in charge. It is about lifting others up and helping them progress. Put simply, our success should not be measured by how much we have achieved in life, but by how well we advance the lives of others along the way.

Through my travels, I’ve also gained a much better understanding of the issues women face around the world because of the gender inequality that still exists today. It is true that women are disproportionately affected and more vulnerable when it comes to armed conflict, sexual violence, climate change and even pandemics. However, what is encouraging and inspiring to me, is that all the data points to the fact that women are a huge part of the solution. And the more we empower, educate and invest in women, the better it bodes for the world.

To illustrate this, let me share a short story with you. One of the most satisfying moments in the last few years for me was not on a trek or an expedition, it was on a visit to Rwanda in Africa in November 2017. I was there to see the work of one of my charity partners, Women for Women International. Rwanda is a fascinating country that has risen from the ashes of a civil war and genocide, to become one of the fastest growing economies on the African continent.

While I was there, one graduate from a programme we funded, looked me in the eye and said proudly: “I am no longer poor. I can now support my family by making bricks as part of my cooperative. My children go to school, and we have enough to eat. I have you and your team of women to thank for my good fortune.”

Her honesty and gratitude moved me, but it was her confidence and her resilience that inspired me deeply. The women we met in Rwanda are courageous, determined, hardworking survivors of a decimated generation. And I really saw first-hand how empowering and supporting women helps them grow stronger and more resilient and the ripple effects it has on their communities and on their nation.

In nearly three decades since Rwanda’s genocide and civil war, its education sector has undergone reconstruction to an unprecedented degree within higher education with greater numbers of girls attending university, and more women becoming university faculty members. In fact, today Rwanda has 64 percent of its seats in parliament held by women, leading the world in female representation. Now if Rwanda can do that, any country can!

Rwanda’s story opened my eyes to the fact that so many women around the world, still today, have no voice. They are deprived of the most basic freedom: the right to live in peace and happiness with their loved ones, the right to education and self-accomplishment, the right to live with respect and decency, the right to dream – even. This is why I am so passionately driven to support women and girls whenever I can.

In conclusion, our journey from parity to planet is intertwined with the stories, dreams and aspirations of women worldwide. As I’ve observed in my own endeavours, when you empower and educate a woman, you’re not just changing her world; you’re setting the stage for a more equitable, greener future for all. Indeed, the time to invest in women, in their dreams and education, is now.

Read the full article from QS Insights Magazine, Issue 8. 

Dr Katell Le Goulven, Executive Director, Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society, INSEAD

Sustainability is the big buzz in business right now. It seems every company has a sustainability strategy and is going green. Yet by almost all major indicators, there has been little progress towards the global Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs.

In September 2022, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed the General Assembly and issued an SOS for the SDGs, saying “Even the most fundamental goals – on poverty, hunger and education – are going into reverse”. The climate is increasingly unstable, loss of biodiversity is staggering, and extreme weather is accelerating.

Building resilient communities and vibrant economies on a healthy planet requires a common understanding of sustainability. It also requires action by all. In this area, higher education can help make sustainability everybody’s business.

Defining Sustainability

The term sustainability was coined by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987. The WCED Brundtland Commission Report defines sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

There are two important aspects of this definition. First, sustainability is a process, not a destination. It is a cycle of adaptation, learning and action.

Second, sustainable development is not simply environmental protection. Sustainability is about understanding interconnections between the economy, society and the natural environment and working towards positive outcomes for all three.

In 2015, governments set out a global agenda for sustainability by adopting the Paris Agreement on climate change and the SDGs.

Enabling Action

The process of defining the SDGs revealed the importance of engaging the private sector to shape the agenda and lead in implementation. It also helped make the business case for sustainability.

Since 2015, a growing number of companies have adopted the framework and announced commitments to the goals. Investment in sustainable assets that align with the SDGs is also growing.

From public universities to private schools, higher education must align with this shift. Every school has a responsibility to prepare the next generation of leaders so they understand sustainability challenges, are equipped to addressed them and find their own opportunity in the sustainability space. Academia is uniquely positioned to provide evidence-based insights needed by decision makers to transform their organizations and lead progress towards the SDGs.

In 2018, INSEAD launched the Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society to integrate sustainability in the school. With the most MBA graduates per year and over 60,000 alumni and business leaders, INSEAD saw an opportunity for big impact by aligning the business school for the world with the SDGs.

Many business schools are getting on this path. Sustainability is gaining traction in the broader management education ecosystem. Higher education accreditation, ratings, rankings and reporting standards are all considering sustainability components.

Making Progress

While this progress is positive, as the UN Secretary-General points out, efforts must accelerate. Now is the moment to make sustainability everyone’s business across the entire higher education ecosystem.

The Hoffmann Institute can share insights from our efforts to integrate sustainability into knowledge, teaching, external engagement and how the school walks the talk. There were challenges along the way and we still have some work to do, but we have made progress.

INSEAD now has sustainability champions in all nine academic areas. The school is integrating sustainability into the core MBA curriculum. Alumni are aligning behind business as a force for good. The school has set out plans for gender balance and carbon emission reductions.

In research, the Hoffmann Institute increased funding for responsible research to give leaders tools to make responsible decisions. This research is shared on INSEAD Knowledge, at responsible research conferences and in fora such as the World Economic Forum and ChangeNOW, where we hear the need for new, more sustainable business models.

In the classroom, teaching business and society through practical experiences has proven successful. For example, our Master Strategy Day brings real-world challenges faced by social impact organizations into a student-led competition to provide solutions. Part of the core curriculum, every student gets hands-on experience applying business strategy to a sustainability challenge.

Engaging alumni and peers around sustainability can multiply results. Alumni-led INSEAD Community Impact Challenges brought together 8,000 people from over 100 countries to reduce single-use plastic consumption, change food habits and move towards net zero. Joining forces with seven other European business schools through the Business Schools for Climate Leadership initiative aggregated knowledge in a practical toolkit for alumni and leaders.

Integrating sustainability in school operations also mattered, not least for learning purposes. INSEAD developed an action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across campuses on three continents that serves as business case for students and alumni.

Overcoming Challenges

We have faced challenges in these efforts. We learned that change in academia takes time while students want to see immediate adjustments. Partnering with clubs to develop extra-curricular activities such as our annual SDG week to bring latest sustainability practices on campus helped.

Using the governance structures of the school — channeling our funding for research through the school’s Research and Development Committee for instance — ensured that we would not develop a parallel structure that would side-line sustainability.

Engaging faculty on every front is needed to embed sustainability deeply in educational institutions. This is also true for changes in operations. Faculty involvement in the analysis and decision making of our carbon reduction strategy facilitated its adoption and brought many learning outcomes across our community.

Business schools also face the challenge of teaching the transformation away from shareholder capitalism. It takes a strong message of business as a force for good. Commitment from the top and buy in from senior leadership are essential and must be reflected in the sustainability strategy.

Now is a moment for bold leadership by business schools, universities and all institutions of higher education. Sustainability at the core of higher education can help deliver a stable, secure and prosperous future for all. Let’s work together and learn from each other’s efforts to make sustainability everybody’s business.

This article was from the 2023 Sustainability Rankings Higher Ed report. Download the full edition.