SUSTAINABILITY
damage that has been done. If we let our students take the lead in the net-positive movement, the corporate world will follow. A green revolution in learning At Edhec, we’re seizing this moment and adopting a radical outlook on business education and research. Our new strategic plan, Generations 2050 promises to transform management education, business activities and society in an era of significant tech and climate transitions. Backed by €270 million in investment, the plan consists of three axes: championing net‑positive business, empowering students to transform society and accelerating climate finance. To realise these goals, Edhec will invest in its faculty, academic programmes, research centres and campuses. Over the next four years, we will recruit 100 professors and researchers, including many with a background in sustainability. We will also invest €112 million in a large-scale reimagination of our campuses, with an emphasis on sustainability and social exchange. Edhec is focused on teaching net-positive business creation and providing cutting-edge research and support to our corporate partners in this area. For example, the Edhec Centre for Responsible Entrepreneurship, which released the Responsible by Design (RED) methodology last year, will continue to work with student start-up teams to ensure that new businesses are net positive from day one. In addition, Edhec will launch a centre for net-positive business to help companies embark on a net-positive transformation. Experts and researchers from this new centre will explore how companies can positively impact society and the environment while also meeting profit goals. Moreover, they will track examples of net-positive business models, create new methods and tools and train executives to manage the net-positive transition. Using our unique talents These are difficult times, with worsening global challenges, especially climate change. Heat records are shattering, wildfires and pollution are spreading, while floods and storms are wreaking havoc. Scientists warn we’ve pushed the planet beyond its limits in water, biodiversity and carbon emissions. The stakes are high and business schools have a role in educating managers who will not gamble away our future. At Edhec, we are determined to use our outstanding strengths in climate finance and responsible entrepreneurship to develop an ambitious agenda around net-positive business. The business world is yearning for new organisational and operational models to serve future generations. Let’s deliver them and let’s teach our students about net-positive business and support them in creating and launching companies that restore and regenerate. Let’s support our corporate partners in their transition by providing them with robust research and expert counsel. We simply can’t afford to waste this moment of synergy and common purpose – we may not have a second chance.
companies could work to repair damage to forests and mountains and improve the lives of the indigenous communities in which they operate. Social media companies could help people find the truth, foster communities’ openness and strengthen the democratic process. All companies should pay their employees the wage necessary to live with dignity and educate their children. The measures needed in desperate times Teaching our students the net-positive business model is the best, if not the only, way to relieve the pressure on our corporate partners and find a viable path forward for the global economy. A recent PWC survey of global CEOs showed that 45 per cent of corporate leaders do not believe their companies will survive if they remain on their current path. More Fortune 500 companies than ever have sustainability reports and science‑based carbon targets; the finance industry too is doing its part to encourage green investment. Still, most CEOs know these steps are insufficient to avert environmental catastrophes and future financial ruin. The Edhec Infrastructure and Private Assets Research Institute produced a study earlier this year that found unmitigated climate change would have disastrous effects on the world’s infrastructure (eg airports, dams and bridges), decimating as much as 50 per cent of infrastructure portfolios. Business leaders know the situation is dire. They are looking to us – to business schools – to train the next generation of leaders who will bring about the transformation necessary to repair the
BIOGRAPHY
Professor Emmanuel Métais is the dean of Edhec Business School. In his nearly three decades of service, he has served as director of the Edhec Global MBA and associate dean of Edhec’s graduate programmes. Under his leadership, Edhec has moved up the FT’s business school rankings and is currently number three in France and number seven in Europe. Edhec’s Generations 2050 strategic plan demonstrates its commitment to advancing critical economic, social and environmental transformation through innovative education and research
Ambition | OCTOBER 2024 | 31
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