Corporate Sustainability Management: Risk, Profit, and Purpose
Online program
Build a competitive advantage for your organization by integrating sustainability into your core business strategy.
6 weeks, excluding 1 week orientation.
8–10 hours of self-paced learning per week, entirely online.
Email: yale.som.execed@getsmarter.com
Call: +1 203 439 4771
About this program
Some of the biggest opportunities and risks facing businesses today lie in the world of sustainability. To succeed in the long term, companies need to focus on making it a core part of their business strategy.
The Corporate Sustainability Management: Risk, Profit, and Purpose online program from the Yale School of Management Executive Education provides a practical guide to driving sustainability within your organization and sphere of influence. Drawing on the expertise of Program Convener Dr Todd Cort and a range of global thought leaders, you’ll uncover the possibilities for sustainable practice in your business and what it means for your bottom line. You’ll also gain valuable tools and frameworks for creating a purpose-led strategy that offers you a competitive edge.
Develop an understanding of the critical aspects of building a corporate sustainability plan as you explore relevant case studies and gain insights from experts in the field. By the end of the program, you’ll have completed a capstone project with an action plan for implementing a sustainability program within your personal context.
What this program covers
The program establishes the business imperative for sustainability by highlighting the link between sustainability and financial systems. You’ll learn how to identify, prioritize, and strategically address the sustainability risks and opportunities that are most material to your business, using multi-stakeholder analyses. You’ll also learn how to estimate the financial value of social and environmental capitals.
Over the six weeks, you’ll explore the frameworks, standards, and guidelines that form part of a corporate sustainability practitioner’s tool kit. By the end of the program, you’ll walk away with guidance on the implementation of a sustainability program, as well as insights on how to become a change agent in your business.
A powerful collaboration
The Yale School of Management Executive Education is collaborating with online education provider GetSmarter to create a new class of learning experience — one that is higher-touch and personalized for the working professional.
About the Yale School of Management
The mission of the Yale School of Management is to educate leaders for business and society. The school’s learners and faculty are committed to understanding the complex forces transforming global markets and using that understanding to build organizations — in the for-profit, nonprofit, entrepreneurial, and government sectors — that contribute lasting value to society.
An integrated curriculum, close ties to Yale University, and active connection to the Global Network for Advanced Management ensure that students both acquire crucial technical skills and develop a genuine understanding of an increasingly complex global context.
About GetSmarter
GetSmarter, part of edX, helps working professionals gain verifiable skills from leading global universities and institutions to thrive in an ever-changing work environment.
Technology meets academic rigor in GetSmarter’s people-mediated model, which enables lifelong learners across the globe to obtain industry-relevant skills that are certified by the world’s most reputable academic institutions.
As a participant of this program, you will also gain unlimited access to edX’s Career Engagement Network at no extra cost. This platform will provide you with valuable career resources and events to support your professional journey. You can look forward to benefits including rich content, career templates, webinars, workshops, career fairs, networking events, panel discussions, and exclusive recruitment opportunities to connect you with potential employers.
What you’ll learn
You’ll be welcomed to the program and begin connecting with fellow participants, while exploring the navigation and tools of your Online Campus. Be alerted to key milestones in the learning path, and review how your results will be calculated and distributed.
You’ll be required to complete your participant profile, confirm your email address for the delivery of your digital certificate, and submit a digital copy of your passport/identity document.
Please note that module titles and their contents are subject to change during program development.
Appreciate why businesses should be concerned about sustainability.
- Recognize the implications of environmental and social megatrends for business
- Review key events in the evolution of corporate sustainability
- Discuss the interaction between sustainability and financial systems
- Articulate how sustainability risks and opportunities can have a potential financial impact on business
Identify which sustainability risks and opportunities are most material to a business and its stakeholders.
- Discuss the necessity and principles of effective stakeholder engagement
- Review the origin and impetus for a multistakeholder materiality assessment and matrix
- Choose the criteria and scoring elements that are most relevant to a business
- Investigate the range of aspects that determine the prioritization of a material issue
- Select a number of material issues and score them using the chosen criteria
- Develop a set of metrics for the issues plotted on a materiality matrix that reflect why they are material
Investigate the role of capitals and decision-making frameworks in determining the value of sustainability risks and opportunities.
- Describe the different forms of capital used and affected by a business
- Demonstrate an understanding of emerging decision-making frameworks and how to apply them
- Investigate valuation methods for material sustainability issues
- Reflect on the benefits and challenges of environmental accounting standards
- Recommend methods for valuing selected sustainability issues
Determine how to address sustainability risks and opportunities from a strategic perspective.
- Discuss the evolving nature of fiduciary duty
- Review the key pillars of integrated risk assessment using the COSO framework
- Identify internalization pathways – the means by which sustainability risks and opportunities can create financial impact
- Investigate the potential business strategy impacts of climate change using the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations
- Write a proposal for a strategic business initiative that addresses the financial impact posed by an environmental or social issue
Examine existing frameworks, standards, and guidelines that corporate sustainability practitioners can rely on.
- Deduce the implications of emerging regulations on sustainability disclosure
- Distinguish among the major frameworks, standards, and guidelines that form part of a corporate sustainability practitioner’s tool kit
- Recommend frameworks, standards, and guidelines to support the implementation of a sustainability management strategic initiative
Plan the way forward for implementing a sustainability program.
- Recognize the key steps of a sustainability program implementation process
- Review options for governance structures and building accountability within a business
- Determine how you can play a role in implementing a sustainability program
- Evaluate how a business is progressing in terms of implementing a sustainability program
- Develop a list of future actions to support the implementation of a sustainability program
Who should take this program
Sustainability has become an important consideration for all business stakeholders. Leaders and decision makers who want to remain competitive will gain value from this program, as would mid-level managers, professionals, and specialists looking to remain relevant and make a positive impact within their spheres of influence. The program would also provide consultants with the tools and insight needed to better advise their clients on strategies for success.
This program is for you if you want to:
Gain a competitive edge
Set your company apart using purposeful, sustainable business strategies.
Assess your finances
Understand the impact of sustainability on your business’s bottom line.
Make an impact
Identify the sustainability risks and opportunities in your organization.
Strategize for success
Implement sustainability strategies using available frameworks and tools.
About the certificate
Get recognized for your knowledge when you earn an official certificate of participation from the Yale School of Management Executive Education — and use it to set yourself apart as a future-focused professional.
Assessment is continuous and based on a series of practical assignments completed online. In order to be issued with your digital certificate, you will need to meet the requirements outlined in the program handbook. The handbook will be made available to you as soon as you begin the program.
Your digital certificate will be issued in your legal name and sent to you upon successful completion of the program, as per the stipulated requirements.
Who you’ll learn from
This subject matter expert from the Yale School of Management guides the program design and appears in a number of program videos, along with a variety of industry professionals.
Your Program Convener
Dr Todd Cort
Lecturer in Sustainability, Yale School of Management
Dr Todd Cort works at the intersection of corporate responsibility and sustainable finance, focusing on the barriers to moving capital (either corporate or investor) to more sustainable investments. In addition to his lecturing and research on sustainability, Dr Cort educates and collaborates with investors and fund managers to effectively integrate sustainability into investment strategies, and is faculty co-director at the Yale Center for Business and the Environment.
How you’ll learn
Every program is broken down into manageable, weekly modules, designed to accelerate your learning process through diverse learning activities:
- Work through your downloadable and online instructional material
- Interact with your peers and learning facilitators through weekly class-wide forums and reviewed small group discussions
- Enjoy a wide range of interactive content, including video lectures, infographics, live polls, and more
- Investigate rich, real-world case studies and take part in interactive online discussion forums
- Apply what you learn each week to quizzes and ongoing project submissions, culminating in an action plan for integrating sustainability into your business strategy
Your success team
GetSmarter, with whom Yale SOM Executive Education is collaborating to deliver this online program, provides a personalized approach to online education that ensures you’re supported throughout your learning journey.
Head Tutor
A subject expert who’ll guide you through content-related challenges.
Success Adviser
Your one-on-one support, available during University hours (9a.m.–5p.m. EST) to resolve technical and administrative challenges.
Global success team
Available 24/7 to solve your tech-related and administrative queries and concerns.
Technical requirements
Basic requirements
In order to complete this program, you’ll need a current email account and access to a computer and the internet, as well as a PDF Reader. You may need to view Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, and read and create documents in Microsoft Word or Excel.
Browser requirements
We recommend that you use Google Chrome as your internet browser when accessing the Online Campus. Although this is not a requirement, we have found that this browser performs best for ease of access to program material. This browser can be downloaded here.
Additional requirements
Certain programs may require additional software and resources. These additional software and resource requirements will be communicated to you upon registration and/or at the beginning of the program. Please note that Google, Vimeo, and YouTube may be used in our program delivery, and if these services are blocked in your jurisdiction, you may have difficulty in accessing program content. Please check with an Enrollment Adviser before registering for this program if you have any concerns about this affecting your experience with the Online Campus.
