Yale’s first-rate business curriculum and depth of knowledge in the field provide a foundation for your aspirations. You’ll also draw on the full power of Yale University and our network of business graduates in the field, as you gain an elevated perspective to see the big picture that enables you to be a leader.
Specializing in sustainability will elevate your career trajectory within the field. Courses and colloquium sessions from our sustainability area of focus also provide deep insights and illuminating perspectives for leaders in other fields.
With volatile commodity prices, resource scarcity, and growing public scrutiny of business operations throughout the entire value chain, achieving greater social and environmental sustainability has become a managerial imperative across industries. Forward-looking businesses are converting constraints traditionally viewed as challenges to growth into the inspiration and motivation for product, operational, and business model innovation. To lead in your organization and make sustainability not a question of corporate responsibility but one of corporate success, you need to combine in-depth understanding of markets and organizations with a grasp of major trends and a facility with frameworks for driving transformative innovation.
Sustainability represents some of the most challenging risks facing businesses today, as well as some of the most exciting opportunities. From climate change to income inequality, the success of business in the future will depend on how companies address these challenges and align themselves with the needs of society and the environment.
Area of Focus Progression
Year 1
Alongside the Core Curriculum, in your first year, you will increase your grasp of big ideas and trends in the business of sustainability by participating in the Colloquium on Sustainability, a series of candid talks with innovators, CEOs of global corporations, policymakers, and other people shaping the field. The schedule also provides the opportunity for students to hear from experts across all other areas of focus. In addition, you will build your network and benefit from the perspectives and experiences of classmates from all facets of the field.
Year 2
In the second year, you deepen your expertise. You take a slate of advanced business and management courses, and a series of deep explorations of topics in sustainability. These courses are taught by experts from the School of Management and other parts of the university, including the Yale School of the Environment. The program builds on a long history of collaboration between SOM and YSE, exemplified in the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale.
Our community
Yale SOM’s program lets me continue working in a role that I’m passionate about while learning new perspectives, and then applying what I’ve learned back in the workplace.
Sustainability Courses
Climate Change: Law, Policy, & Opportunity
This course will explore legal and policy developments pertaining to climate change with an overarching aim of anticipating how the climate change problem will affect our laws, our organizations, and our lives in the long run.
ESG Controller
This course will equip students with the skills needed to navigate the emerging role of an ESG Controller, a key position responding to the growing regulatory focus on ESG disclosures. Through case studies and practical applications, students will gain insight into the real-world identification and management of ESG risks and the broader implications of sustainability targets, preparing them to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of business in an increasingly ESG-conscious world.
ESG Investing
This course discusses how Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) information can be incorporated into investment portfolios. ESG objectives are important for investors representing trillions of dollars and may affect their portfolios’ risk and return. Students will consider ways investors can articulate their financial and non-financial portfolio goals, as well as the potential for ESG-minded asset owners to impact the companies they invest in.
Social Intra and Entrepreneurship
Social Intra- and Entrepreneurship explores the concepts, controversies, and heresies in this still-emerging field, including how to apply the underlying ideas to working within a more traditional corporate setting.
Sustainable Investment in Private Markets: Exploring Alternative Assets
In this course, students will immerse themselves in a comprehensive study of sustainable investing principles, methodologies, and their practical applications across a spectrum of investment vehicles including private equity, venture capital, real assets, among other alternative instruments.
Sustainable Systems
This course is designed to establish a common understanding of sustainability and business and introduces a broad set of tools, frameworks, standards, and guidelines that are in practice today. The course explores details of sustainability strategy implementation and is designed to link sustainability to overall business drivers.
This list represents current and planned program content. Exact course lineup and/or titles may change.
