This page collects resources for teaching sustainable business, including case studies, curriculum design materials, and academic scholarship on sustainable business teaching.

General resources:

• Teaching resources from the Page Prize for Sustainability Issues in Business Curricula: link
• 2020 Journal of Management Education Special Issue: “Sustainability in Management Education“
• “What I’ve Learned About Teaching Sustainability Management”, by Rüdiger Hahn
• Harvard Business Publishing “Sustainability in the Core” collections
  • Strategy
  • Operations Management
  • Marketing
  • Accounting
• Course: Corporate Sustainability Strategy
• Science Based Targets Initiative
• Sustainability Management Simulation: Net Zero
• Tracking climate commitments
  • Climate Action Tracker
    • ZeroTracker

Sustainable Business Case Studies

• Bunge: Building a Sustainable Future?
• Familia Torres: From Sustainability to Regenerative Agriculture
• Measuring Impact at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator
• Reimagining Enel: Enabling Sustainable Progress
• Driving Decarbonization at BMW
• Cancel Culture: Corporations Flock to Carbon Offsets to Solve their Climate Problem, but do Offsets Truly Reduce Emissions?
• Building Sustainability and Circularity at JSW Steel
• Sustainability through Simply Good Jars
• Amara Hotels & Resorts, Singapore: Building Competitive Advantage through Sustainability and CSR Initiatives
• Rural Prosperity in the Face of Climate Change: Mahindra Strives for Sustainable Strategies
• Transparency, Traceability, and Compliance in Uniqlo’s Global Value Chain
• Tesla: Business & Operating Model Evolution
• Sian Flowers: Fresher by Sea?
• FIJI Water: Carbon Negative? (Abridged)
• Mandalay Homes: Building Sustainable Innovation in Residential Construction
• Sustainability Reporting at Dollar Tree, Inc.
• BluSmart: Building an Eco-Friendly Experience in App-Based Ride-Hailing Services
• Private Equity Real Estate Investors – Overcoming the challenge of Sustainability & ESG: Pro-invest Group’s ESG Journey
• Can Salesforce Compete in the Carbon Accounting Market?
• Enhancing the Sustainability DNA of Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay through Induction Training
• Redress: Creating a Sustainable Movement For Change in Fast Fashion
• Openspace Ventures: Sustainable Venture Capital

Business School Curricula

• University College Cork, Ireland: Higher Diploma in Sustainability and Climate Action for Enterprise
• Grand Challenges and the MBA
• Climate change has (finally) arrived at business school
• Study Abroad: Why sustainable business education in the US is in demand
• University of Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education in ESG
• Kogod Business School Master’s in Sustainability Management
• What Generation Z wants from a business masters
• Business Schools Must Do More to Address the Climate Crisis
• What Business Schools Can Do to Address the Climate Crisis
• Open access book: Responsible Management Education: The PRME Global Movement
• Reducing work travel: Preparing post-Covid graduates for remote and hybrid work
• Report: Environmental beliefs among business students around the world
• Businesses must empower and inspire young people to pursue green jobs
• Harvard Business Review article: Business schools must do more to address the climate crisis

Scholarship on Teaching Sustainable Business

• Shantz, Amanda, Melissa Sayer, Janice Byrne, and Kiera Dempsey-Brench. “Grand Challenges and the MBA.” Journal of Management Education, February 21, 2023, 105256292311548. https://doi.org/10.1177/10525629231154891.
• Michel, J.O., Buckley, J., Friedensen, R., Anderson-Long, M., & Garibay, J. Infusing Sustainability into Graduate Level Higher Education and Student Affairs Coursework. (forthcoming). About Campus.
• Henderson, T., Michel, J.O., Bryan, A., Canosa, E., Gamalski, C., Jones, K., & Moghtader, K. (2022). An Exploration of the Relationship Between Sustainability-Related Involvement and Learning Outcomes in Higher Education. Sustainability, 14(10), 5811.
• Killion, A. K., Michel, J.O., & Hawes, J. K. (2022). Toward Identifying Sustainability Leadership Competencies: Insights from Mapping a Graduate Sustainability Education Curriculum. Sustainability, 14(10), 5811.
• Kamleitner, B., & Thürridl, C. (2022, August 10). Every (Repurposed) Product Has a Story. MIT Sloan Management Review. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/every-repurposed-product-has-a-story/
• Pedersen, E. R. G., Andersen, K. R., & Schiavon, A. L. D. (2022). Diffusing corporate sustainability knowledge with online education: Experiences from a massive open online course (MOOC) on sustainable fashion. Journal of International Education in Business. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIEB-02-2021-0026
• Georgallis, P., & Bruijn, K. (2022). Sustainability teaching using case-based debates. Journal of International Education in Business. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIEB-03-2021-0039
• Brundiers, K., Barth, M., Cebrián, G., Cohen, M., Diaz, L., Doucette-Remington, S., … & Zint, M. (2021). Key competencies in sustainability in higher education—toward an agreed-upon reference framework. Sustainability Science, 16(1), 13-29.
• Edwards, M. G., Alcaraz, J. M., & Cornell, S. E. (2021). Management Education and Earth System Science: Transformation as if Planetary Boundaries Mattered. Business and Society, 60(1), 26–56. https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650318816513
• Craig, C. A., Petrun Sayers, E. L., Gilbertz, S., Karam, R., & Feng, S. (2021). The Role of STEM-Based Sustainability in Business and Management Curricula: Exploring Cognitive and Affective Outcomes in University Students. Journal of Management Education, 10525629211056316. https://doi.org/10.1177/10525629211056316
• Abdelgaffar, H. A. (2021). A review of responsible management education: Practices, outcomes and challenges. Journal of Management Development, 40(9–10), 613–638. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-03-2020-0087
• Lee, K.-H., & Hales, R. (2021). Reflections and reflective practice to advance responsible management education for sustainability: The case of an Australian MBA programme. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-04-2021-0135
• Brunstein, J., Walvoord, M. E., & Cunliff, E. (2021). Problem-posing in management classrooms for collective sustainability transformation. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 22(3), 477–496. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-05-2020-0141
• Leal Filho, W., Frankenberger, F., Salvia, A. L., Azeiteiro, U., Alves, F., Castro, P., Will, M., Platje, J., Lovren, V. O., Brandli, L., Price, E., Doni, F., Mifsud, M., & Avila, L. V. (2021). A framework for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in university programmes. Journal of Cleaner Production, 299, 126915. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126915
• Wang, K., Tekler, Z. D., Cheah, L., Herremans, D., & Blessing, L. (2021). Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Augmented Reality Game Promoting Environmental Action. Sustainability, 13(24), 13912. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132413912
• Sroufe, R., Hart, S. L., & Lovins, H. (2021). Transforming Business Education: 21st Century Sustainable MBA Programs. Journal of Management for Global Sustainability, 9(1), 15–41. https://doi.org/10.13185/JM2021.09102
• Hoffman, A. J. (2021). Business education as if people and the planet really matter. Strategic Organization, 19(3), 513–525.
• Arevalo, J. A., Mitchell, S. F., Rands, G., & Starik, M. (2020). Guest Editors’ Introduction to the Special Issue: Sustainability in Management Education. Journal of Management Education, 44(6), 683–698. https://doi.org/10.1177/1052562920962832
• Sebastianelli, R., Isil, O., & Li, Y. (2020). Infusing Social Justice into Decision Sciences Core Courses. Decision Sciences-Journal of Innovative Education, 18(4), 522–548. https://doi.org/10.1111/dsji.12220
• Bagley, C. E., Sulkowski, A. J., Nelson, J. S., Waddock, S., & Shrivastava, P. (2020). A Path to Developing More Insightful Business School Graduates: A Systems-Based, Experimental Approach to Integrating Law, Strategy, and Sustainability. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 19(4), 541–568. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2018.0036
• Hallinger, P., Wang, R., Chatpinyakoop, C., Nguyen, V.-T., & Nguyen, U.-P. (2020). A bibliometric review of research on simulations and serious games used in educating for sustainability, 1997-2019. Journal of Cleaner Production, 256, 120358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120358
• Prado, A. M., Arce, R., Lopez, L. E., Garcia, J., & Pearson, A. A. (2020). Simulations Versus Case Studies: Effectively Teaching the Premises of Sustainable Development in the Classroom. Journal of Business Ethics, 161(2), 303–327. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04217-5
• Gallagher, V. C., Porter, T. H., & Gallagher, K. P. (2020). Sustainability change agents: Leveraging political skill and reputation. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 33(1), 181–195. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-01-2018-0031
• Cullen, J. G. (2020). Varieties of Responsible Management Learning: A Review, Typology and Research Agenda. Journal of Business Ethics, 162(4), 759–773. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04362-x
• Montiel, I., Gallo, P. J., & Antolín-López, R. (2020). What on Earth Should Managers Learn About Corporate Sustainability? A Threshold Concept Approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 162(4), 857–880. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04361-y
• Haney, A. B., Pope, J., & Arden, Z. (2020). Making It Personal: Developing Sustainability Leaders in Business. Organization & Environment, 33(2), 155–174. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086026618806201
• Iverson, E. R., & Wetzstein, L. J. (2020). Connecting Learning About the Earth to Societal Issues: Downstream Effects on Faculty Teaching. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2020(161), 35–52. https://doi.org/10.1002/tl.20372
• Reames, T. G., Blackmar, J. M., & Pierce, J. C. (2020). Teaching the Three E’s of Sustainability Through Service-Learning in a Professional Program. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2020(161), 73–82. https://doi.org/10.1002/tl.20374
• André, R. (2020). Teaching Climate Leadership: Promoting Integrative Learning in Courses on Strong Sustainability. Journal of Management Education, 44(6), 766–793. https://doi.org/10.1177/1052562920941547
• Phillips, M. (2019). “Daring to Care”: Challenging Corporate Environmentalism. Journal of Business Ethics, 156(4), 1151–1164. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3589-0
• Monroe, M. C., Plate, R. R., Oxarart, A., Bowers, A., & Chaves, W. A. (2019). Identifying effective climate change education strategies: A systematic review of the research. Environmental Education Research, 25(6), 791–812. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2017.1360842
• Aragon-Correa, J. A., Marcus, A. A., Rivera, J. E., & Kenworthy, A. L. (2017). Sustainability management teaching resources and the challenge of balancing planet, people, and profits. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 16(3), 469–483. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2017.0180
• Caprar, D. V., Do, B., Rynes, S. L., & Bartunek, J. M. (2016). It’s Personal: An Exploration of Students’ (Non)Acceptance of Management Research. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 15(2), 207–231. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2014.0193
• McGreavy, B., Druschke, C. G., Sprain, L., Thompson, J. L., & Lindenfeld, L. A. (2016). Environmental communication pedagogy for sustainability: Developing core capacities to engage with complex problems. Applied Environmental Education & Communication, 15(3), 261–274. https://doi.org/10.1080/1533015X.2016.1181018
• Shulman, L. S. (2005). Signature Pedagogies in the Professions. Daedalus, 134(3), 52–59.

Earth Systems Governance

• Mambrey, S., Schreiber, N. & Schmiemann, P. Young Students’ Reasoning About Ecosystems: the Role of Systems Thinking, Knowledge, Conceptions, and Representation. Res Sci Educ 52, 79–98 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-020-09917-x
• Anne Marie A. Casper, María E. Fernández-Giménez & Meena M. Balgopal (2021) A tool for measuring ecological literacy: coupled human-ecosystem interactions, The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 27:1, 21-34, DOI: 10.1080/1389224X.2020.1780139
• Beckage, Brian, Katherine Lacasse, Jonathan M. Winter, Louis J. Gross, Nina Fefferman, Forrest M. Hoffman, Sara S. Metcalf, et al. “The Earth Has Humans, so Why Don’t Our Climate Models?” Climatic Change 163, no. 1 (November 2020): 181–88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02897-x.
• Ostrom, Elinor. “Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems.” American Economic Review 100, no. June (2010): 641–72. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.100.3.1.
• DeFries, Ruth, and Harini Nagendra. “Ecosystem Management as a Wicked Problem.” Science (New York, N.Y.) 356 (2017): 265–70. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aal1950.
• Meyfroidt, Patrick, Ariane de Bremond, Casey M. Ryan, Emma Archer, Richard Aspinall, Abha Chhabra, Gilberto Camara, et al. “Ten Facts about Land Systems for Sustainability.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119, no. 7 (February 15, 2022): e2109217118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2109217118.
• Jones, Owen P., and Robert L. Stephenson. “Practical Use of Full-Spectrum Sustainability in the Bay of Fundy.” Ecology and Society 24, no. 3 (2019): art25. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11010-240325.
• Meyfroidt, Patrick, Ariane de Bremond, Casey M. Ryan, Emma Archer, Richard Aspinall, Abha Chhabra, Gilberto Camara, et al. “Ten Facts about Land Systems for Sustainability.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119, no. 7 (February 15, 2022): e2109217118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2109217118.