An scene of urban office buildings going green with plants planted to create a more eco-friendly environment.

Warwick Business School is ranked second globally for sustainability and aims to give firms the tools to progress towards net zero.

Warwick Business School is launching an online course to help businesses and organisations become sustainable.

The recent COP27 in Egypt once again highlighted the urgent need for the planet to reach net-zero emissions and avoid climate catastrophe.

As governments across the world battle to get policies and energy supplies in place so business is playing its part, but just how to turn a company into sustainable organisation is a new skillset few have learned.

The Leading Sustainability Transitions part-time online course will give firms the frameworks and tools to move towards a net-zero organisation from a school recently ranked second in the world for sustainability.

Course Director Fred Dahlmann, Associate Professor of Strategy and Sustainability and a leading researcher in sustainability transition, said: “This is one of the most urgent and important topics businesses are grappling with today. For the world to reach its goal of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C it will take every organisation playing its part. This decade is the crucial one for the planet if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change.

“However, moving to a net-zero organisation is complex with a lot of competing demands. This course will help senior leaders navigate this with the latest research and frameworks.

“It is designed to address significant knowledge and skill gaps among leading executives, business, and other professionals regarding the role, impact and importance of addressing critical sustainability challenges.

“While there is a focus on the familiar environmental concerns, the course also focuses on how social issues are integral to necessary and innovative business decisions. In practice this can impact many crucial activities, for example, the role of the UN SDGs and the importance of sustainable supply chains, managing diversity, and developing purpose-led businesses.”

The six-week online course will see participants learn how to apply a range of cutting-edge tools, concepts and frameworks to their organisation and identify KPIs to drive meaningful change. 

Using the same online platform that has powered the school’s online MBA to be ranked number one in the world, the course is fully interactive with discussions and questions encouraged, while there will be a host video interviews with leading thinkers from industry and the research field.

Each lesson, which will have six to eight hours of content, will end with participants creating a plan of how to incorporate their new knowledge into their work and organisation.

As well as learning how to incorporate the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in an organisation, sustainable business models and carbon management, participants will master design thinking to develop sustainable innovations and behavioural science nudges to change staff and consumers’ behaviour.

Dr Dahlmann added: “Organisations are facing an increasingly volatile and uncertain world, with the need for a sustainable future heightened by the energy crisis brought on by the war in Ukraine.

“Couple this with growing consumer pressure for business to take sustainability seriously and there is an imperative that organisations acquire the tools and knowledge to adapt their practices for a net-zero future.

“This course will address all that in six weeks and allow you to be advised by some of the leading academics in the field.”

For more information about Leading Sustainability Transitions, visit the course page here.