BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
GOING FOR GREEN
Nicole de Fontaines , executive director of CEMS, looks at what early-career professionals need to know to lead in the context of the environmental crisis and how business schools can support their development
I n 2002, the then French President Jacques Chirac uttered the phrase, “notre maison brûle et nous regardons ailleurs” to open his speech at the Fourth Earth Summit, held in Johannesburg. This translates as, “our house is burning and we are looking elsewhere”. Fast-forward 20 years and his words are finally sinking in. For too long, we have treated Earth as an infinite resource to plunder. In very recent years, however, humanity seems finally to understand that, without urgent action, we are heading for environmental catastrophe. Since its inception, CEMS (formerly, the Community of European Management Schools and International Companies) has been committed to preparing responsible leaders capable of innovating and driving change within global organisations. Responsible leadership is deeply embedded within the CEMS culture, curriculum and ethos. In 2021, a survey of 4,206 alumni from 75 countries told us that the environment is the greatest concern facing modern-day business leaders. We decided to harness the resources of our unique global community to combine insights from the corporate and the academic world into how we might tackle this challenge and develop the critical skills needed.
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