The sustainability opportunity for business professionals

Faculty from ASU’s School of Sustainability and the Department of Supply Chain Management will provide instruction and real-life insights on organizational opportunities that accompany global challenges. Bruno Sarda, vice president of sustainability at NRG will join them in training students for the Professional Certificate in Sustainability Strategy.

Most people are experiencing the concept of sustainability in a gloom-and-doom context of seemingly insurmountable global challenges like plastic pollution in the ocean and climate change. Today, however, sustainability strategies are smart business: They reduce cost through efficiency, increase revenue, and help organizations come out on top in the talent war.

The Sustainability Opportunity is an intensive seminar that combines the power of the consistently top-ranked W. P. Carey School of Business with the pioneering, first-in-the-nation School of Sustainability at Arizona State University. Instead of focusing on gloom and doom, this seminar will focus on the business and organizational opportunities that accompany our global challenges.

Faculty from ASU’s School of Sustainability and the Department of Supply Chain Management in the university’s W. P. Carey School will provide instruction and offer real-life insights. They’ll be joined by Bruno Sarda, vice president of sustainability at NRG, the leading integrated power company in the U.S.

“The certificate program will examine sustainability not only through the lens of the environment but also through the lens of business,” says Professor of Supply Chain Management Kevin Dooley. “It’s not just, ‘How do we reach a goal like, say, using less water,’ but ‘How do we do so in a way that reduces the footprint of doing business from the bottom line up?”

The certificate program is from March 28 to 30 in Wrigley Hall at ASU’s Tempe campus. The curriculum is designed for mid-career professionals in the private sector who want to create a decided advantage in the marketplace by reorienting their professional and organizational abilities toward sustainability and resiliency, with a focus on leveraging the opportunities presented by both.

Participants will also benefit from a professional cohort and sustainability network of peers in the private sector, representing a diversity of roles, ranks, company sizes, and industries. This includes managers, directors, senior directors, vice presidents, and senior vice presidents — all those with strategic oversight of sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR), or the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG), as well as operational managers who aspire to such a role.

Together, participants will craft a plan of leverage points for organizational change and professional development to achieve a sustainability advantage, and help increase organizational resilience. Sessions and field study will enable them to leave with tangible, applied tools that can be used in their workplace and personal lives.

Learn more about the Professional Certificate in Sustainability Strategy and register today.