‘The main challenge I find is that people do not understand what sustainability is, because it is not easy. It permeates everything. ‘Some colleagues talk about sustainability, others about ESG, others about SDGs, others about CSR, others about DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] others about climate change. Alignment and a common framework are a must for consistent implementation of sustainability in a Business School.’ ‘Aligning the conversation around climate change, which is part of a more sustainable approach in business and questioning how it can be ingrained into education is a tough challenge. ‘Talking with faculty, they ask: “What do you mean and how do we bring it into our courses?”’ They think it’s great but how do they teach sustainability in accounting for example? There are obvious areas, for example, in strategy. We know how to go about this, but then you think about data analytics – what is sustainable about data? Well, you could bring it into technology and how much that consumes in terms of energy, and so on. ‘I think that Covid-19 has brought a new way of thinking because we have more reflection time, we found ourselves inside and there is a lot in the media about how numbers were improving, not because we were taking the right measures but, because we were all at home, not using our cars and producing less overall, certain metrics improved Stephanie Villemagne, Associate Dean, IE Business School
dramatically. I think that people started reflecting and thinking they could be optimistic about this but the longer-term perspective to me is very difficult to think through. ‘I have started an introduction to sustainability in business course to talk about all these elements and relate them back to the core courses students will study throughout their master’s. I do see the differences year on year, in terms of awareness. ‘When I ask who has heard of the SDGs or who is aware of the consequences of climate change, for example, there are more people raising their hands. But, I would say, out of 50 students, I still have at least 20 people who don’t raise their hands when I ask about the SDGs. These people have no idea – and that’s a bit scary. I don’t know how optimistic I am about the future.’
A lot of us are in our bubble and we think that everyone thinks about this all the time but guess what – they don’t
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Ambition | BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY
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