Sustainability in Action: Education, Research, and Community

Haley Bierman

Feb 23, 2024

The MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative works to advance sustainable business practices and climate policy via education, research, and community action.

Providing the best education

Their flagship courses, Business Strategies for a Sustainable Future (BSSF) and Sustainable Business Lab (S-Lab), are integral to the Sustainability Certificate program and have reached 180 students in 2023. BSSF equips students to address social and environmental challenges, while S-Lab offers hands-on experience with organizations like the Boston Red Sox and Fidelity Investments.

Through MIT Sloan Executive Education, the Sustainability Initiative now offers Business Sustainability Strategy: Technology and Management, a self-paced online course for responsible business leadership. Combined with their in-person course, Strategies for Sustainable Business, they have reached more than 900 global participants through these open enrollment offerings. Customized executive education learning programs reached more than 1,200 business leaders in 2023. Faculty from the Sustainability Initiative co-developed and taught in distinctive sustainability-focused programs with a variety of professional services firms.

Reinforcing academic rigor

The Aggregate Confusion Project (ACP), focused on resolving inaccuracies and discrepancies in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings, published their latest paper, “The Signal in the Noise.” The findings from co-authors Florian Berg (Research Scientist), Jason Jay, PhD ’10 (Senior Lecturer, Sustainability; Director, Sustainability Initiative), Julian Kölbel (Research Affiliate), and Roberto Rigobon, PhD ’97, (Society of Sloan Fellows Professor of Management; Professor of Applied Economics; Co-Faculty Director, Sustainability Initiative) reinforced the importance of ESG ratings and determined ways to improve the ESG ratings industry.

The MIT Climate Pathways Project, which leverages the En-ROADS simulator, was selected as a featured project at the Paris Peace Forum and was featured as the 2023 ChangeNOW conference’s opening session, which was moderated by John D. Sterman, PhD ’82 (Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management; Professor of System Dynamics and Engineering Systems; Co-Faculty Director, Sustainability Initiative).

Empowering leaders to act

The Sustainability Initiative has built a community of students and alumni committed to applying sustainability principles to their careers, with 650 MIT alumni having earned the Sustainability Certificate. This past year showcased increases in alumni engagement, regional events, social media follows, and media mentions, demonstrating the continued success of their efforts to empower leaders to act.

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