How to make case for sustainability careers + best Sustainability MBAs

With an increasing interest in post-MBA sustainability careers, prospective candidates frequently ask how they should connect their prior experiences with a desire to pursue a career in sustainability. While there's no cookie-cutter approach to justifying post-MBA goals, there are indeed some well-accepted rationales, that if you understand will help you position your own experience in the correct light for a career in sustainability.

The sustainability framework is becoming more nuanced in its relevance to various industries and functions as we enter an era where the adoption of green energy, innovative emissions standards and SDGs and climate technologies is increasing. With this progress, certain industries like the oil and gas industry, manufacturing, consumer goods, mining, and certain segments of the transportation sector are increasingly required to seek smart management talent who is capable in driving their transition to sustainability.

In order to evaluate your own standing for a career in sustainability, here are a couple of things you should consider

1. Are you currently working (pre-MBA) in traditionally emission-intensive industries like manufacturing industry or the oil and gas industry? If yes, your prior experience of observing the unsustainable practices firsthand through your work and a need to envision sustainability led business objectives will make a strong case for your profile. This contextual assessment will have a significant impact on how sustainability principles are integrated into your professional endeavors.

2. Consider the functional expertise- whether your current job is in the consulting, technology or financial sectors. Think how you would be able to leverage your knowledge, understanding of problems and skills from your pre MBA function to provide solutions for the transition or development of green technologies.

For example, If coming from a technology-oriented role, you could leverage your technical skills, develop renewable energy systems, improve energy efficiency in manufacturing processes, or design pro-sustainability software and applications. Your expertise could be valuable in implementing IoT solutions for better environmental monitoring or creating sustainable infrastructure.

Alternatively, a finance-oriented background could contribute to creating sustainable investment portfolios, evaluating the financial impact and viability of green technology adoption, or structuring green bonds and funds to support environmentally friendly projects.


Depending on what you aspire to after the MBA — direct involvement in managing financial feasibility or rallying support for transition or technology development, here are some top MBA programs with Sustainability focus you should definitely explore

1. INSEAD

INSEAD's Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society was established in 2018, and stands as a pillar in its Force for Good Campaign, embodying INSEAD's commitment to lead in business sustainability. As over 85% of the INSEAD alumni are actively dedicated to addressing societal and economic challenges, with alumni grants to INSEAD, this support has funded impactful research projects, knowledge funds, and prestigious fellowships, each targeting unique aspects of sustainability and diversity.

This year, albeit a little late, INSEAD announced an ambitious plan to embed sustainability across all 14 core MBA courses, supplementing them with innovative electives. Presently, there are 20 elective subjects linked to sustainability, including recent additions such as energy, transition finance, and sustainable finance. Additional electives, based on insights gathered from alumni and recruiters, will be introduced every six months to integrate the latest business practices. However I would like to highlight, that INSEAD’s focus is on developing “generalists” over “specialists” which makes it different from the US MBAs with specializations (More on those below).

INSEAD is steadfast in its pursuit of global thought leadership in sustainability. Collaborations like the Business Schools for Climate Leadership, participation in ChangeNow summit, Davos, and the World Economic Forum underscore this commitment. With ongoing industry and alumni support, INSEAD with its ever-strengthening brand value, can be a great choice for sustainability enthusiasts.

2. Duke Fuqua School Of business
Duke Fuqua is among the top programs in sustainability. Its curriculum has an integrated sustainability focus that will help candidates transition from oil and gas to consulting or finance. The two Major Sustainability Concentrations are

1.Energy and Environment
This concentration is a good choice if you want to work in the energy sector—whether oil and gas, renewables, utilities, or energy consulting. It’s also a good fit if you wish to be a leader in corporate sustainability or will be guiding corporate social responsibility practices in a business setting.

2.Energy and Finance
This concentration is better suited for folks with prior experience in investing or finance. This concentration helps the students dive deeper into issues of project finance, markets and trading, corporate finance, and risk management, and master the key fundamentals of today’s global energy markets. Fuqua is the only MBA program in the Businessweek top 10 schools to offer a major or concentration in Energy Finance.

Duke Fuqua also provides 2 dual degrees for sustainability that is Master of Environmental Management (MEM with MBA) and Masters of Forestry (MF with MBA) as part of its case I3 initiative for impact investing.
https://www.fuqua.duke.edu/programs/day ... ual-degree

Those who are interested in managing funds, with sustainability focus will get the opportunities to manage Sustainable Impact Fund.
https://sites.duke.edu/casei3/fuqua-sus ... ment-fund/

3.MIT Sloan School of Management
MIT Sloan MBA leads in the number of electives for sustainability at 95 currently spread between fall and spring terms, which you can choose through sustainability certificate program. After receiving the admit, the students must demonstrate and interest and eligibility for the sustainability certification. The program is ideal for anyone interested in the operations, innovation and strategy side of sustainable businesses.

4. Ross School of Business
Ross MBA has 44 electives which hints at the strong sustainability focus at the school. Michigan Ross students have diverse routes to gain leadership skills in sustainability:

1. The Erb Institute offers a joint MBA/MS program with SEAS, spanning three years. The Erb Institute is a partnership between the Ross School of Business and the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) at the University of Michigan. This program, active since 1996, has graduated over 500 students. These Erb graduates often serve as experts within Ross and are integral to various classes.

2. MBA students have the option to pursue the ESG concentration over the standard two-year duration. Launched in Fall 2023, this concentration, designed in collaboration with faculty and student leaders, constitutes 12 credits within the total 57-credit program. Courses like Sustainable Development Strategies, Sustainability Finance, Poverty & Inequality, and Social Impact Organization Frameworks are part of the curriculum. Additionally, students can access co-curricular events, including ESG data training and talks from external speakers.


5. Darden School of Business
If you are looking for a global hands-on experience in sustainability, Darden MBA offers some very impressive global Experiential learning opportunities, including technology and sustainability in Business in Brazil, Complex societal issues such as food and water management, health care, urban planning and farming in India, Sustainability in Costa Rica, and entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability in Sweden. For those who do not have typical backgrounds for sustainability careers, the experiential learning can be a great means to build your resume for sustainability jobs.


6. Haas School of Business
Haas sets aside a $10,000 grant per year to help fund students’ new initiatives and projects that promote efforts towards climate change and sustainability, which emphasises its action driven commitment to sustainability.

Haas MBA offers two concentrations- Energy and Clean Technology and Sustainable and Impact Finance with over 25 electives to choose from. To that end, Haas is now the only top business school to foster leadership across five major sustainable business areas: energy, sustainable agriculture and food, real estate and urban economics, and corporate accountability, and sustainable finance and accounting.

The two experiential learning opportunities at Berkeley Haas are the Sustainable Investment Fund and Cleantech to Market. As US's first cleantech accelerator, the mission of Cleantech to Market (C2M) is to address climate change. C2M is a capstone, experiential, interdisciplinary program in which Haas students collaborate with 20+ other graduate programs across UC Berkeley and, in partnership with entrepreneurs, researchers, and industry professionals, help accelerate the commercialization of promising cleantech innovations.

Sustainability is infused into the Haas finance curriculum through Haas’s Sustainable and Impact Finance Initiative, including through its three sustainable, impact and climate investment fund courses. Valued at over $7.5million in total, these courses offer MBA students real-world experience in delivering both strong financial returns and positive social impact.

Whether you have an atypical background or not for the schools mentioned, I would be delighted to have a conversation and offer assistance in any way I can.

Do not hesitate to reach out to us if you need help navigating your unique circumstances in the B School admissions process.

Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD alum, former INSEAD admissions interviewer)
MBAGuideConsulting
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