Eilish, who has sold the digital equivalent of 80 million albums, comes by her green credo honestly. Her mother, actress Maggie Baird, ran a no-meat, no-waste household, where paper towels and Christmas wrap were banned. (Baird now operates Support + Feed, a not-for-profit advocating for a global shift to plant-based food systems.) 

When she started touring, Eilish was horrified by Big Music’s indifference to sustainability. “You would not believe how wasteful this industry is,” Eilish told a CNN reporter last year. Speaking to organizations who wanted to work with her, she says, “You ask them what their plan is to be more eco-conscious, and nobody had a plan.” So she started demanding one.  

With less acclaim than her music has brought her, Eilish has become a Gen Z climate champion. She attended the 2022 Met Gala in a Gucci dress made from recycled materials, lectured Vogue magazine on climate disruption, required concert venues to provide free water-bottle filling stations, and offered vegetarian meals to concert staff. Her Overheated climate-action initiative produced a documentary on climate change, alongside an ongoing series of formal climate conferences.  

Eilish and Baird also teamed up with Reverb, a non-profit consultancy focused on greening concerts and festivals. Reverb’s environmental impact report demonstrates the results that spirited leadership can produce. Eilish’s 2024/2025 tour raised US$13.3 million for climate organizations, delivered 7.7 million plant-based meals (reducing food-related emission by half), and avoided 135,000 single-use water bottles. Since the biggest climate impact of arena shows is the transportation required for tens of thousands of fans, Eilish’s team worked with each venue, Google Maps and local transit to plot the greenest alternatives. Best of all, Reverb says, many venues have turned these new practices into ongoing operations.  

Unlike many climate crusaders, Eilish is bullish about the possibilities for change. “The main message I live by is that things don’t always have to be done the way they’ve always been done.” 

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Gladu is a member of Domtar’s newly formed External Sustainability Advisory Committee, and as principal owner of Mokwateh consultancy, he provided a third-party Indigenous review of the company’s new Global Indigenous Relations Policy. With this in mind, we asked him to share his thoughts on what’s next for Indigenous partnerships in Canada.

Q: How did you get your start in forestry? What brought you to the industry?

Forestry is in my blood. My dad was a logger, his dad was a logger, and I spent a lot of time in the bush growing up. I actually grew up off reserve, which was a result of historical circumstances. In 1958, our community was burned to the ground by the provincial government to make way for a provincial park. As a result, many families – including mine – had to relocate.

Growing up off reserve shaped my perspective; I always knew I was First Nation, but I didn’t have the same daily connection to community life that others did. Instead, I found my connection to my heritage through time spent on the land and in the forest, often hunting and fishing with other community members.

I originally wanted to be a conservation officer, so I went to forest tech school in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. My first job was helping with First Nation community forests across Ontario. The enthusiasm and togetherness I felt at those on-reserve community forest meetings helped me realize that my passion was for working with our people and supporting Indigenous communities, rather than chasing corporate titles.

Q: Many Domtar employees and customers aren’t aware of the company’s Indigenous relations work. Can you give an example of Domtar raising the bar for Indigenous relations?

One of the best examples comes from the Lake Nipigon forest and the relationships that grew out of that work. Before 2008, First Nations had almost no management control over forests in our own backyards. We were constantly fighting for access to wood and opportunities to harvest, which created tension with industry. Then the sector hit a downturn in 2008, and everything changed. Domtar, government representatives and our First Nations sat down together, and we negotiated 100% management control of the Lake Nipigon forest. That was a turning point. It showed what true Indigenous partnerships could look like.

Even after gaining control, we didn’t have a sawmills or processing facility until 2012, so we maintained strong relationships with companies like Domtar to deliver wood. It became a symbiotic relationship: Domtar needed fibre for its mills, and we needed markets for our wood. Over time, that collaboration evolved into something much deeper: shared problem-solving and mutual respect. Today, we are supplied with oversized trees and Domtar purchases our dimensional wood for final processing and markets. With the capacity of about a truck a day, we employ four sawmill workers and a manager.

There’s also a personal story that illustrates this evolution. My dad worked as a logger and truck driver years ago, and his boss in the bush was Tom Ratz. Back then, my dad was a bullheaded First Nation guy that was a high production operator, and he and Tom sometimes butted heads. Fast forward to today. My dad is the Chief of Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek (Sand Point First Nation), and Tom, until he recently retired, was chief forester for Ontario within Domtar. They are still working together. That change underscores why respectful, long-term relationships matter. In forestry communities, roles change, but the connections remain. Domtar’s willingness to adapt, listen and work alongside Indigenous leadership is what raising the bar looks like. Tom, my dad and I have plans to go fishing together this summer. We’ve also had Lana Wilhelm, director of Indigenous relations, spend time in our community on the land. I can’t stress enough the importance of industry partners spending time in community. It’s the relationships that count.

Q: What do you see as the next evolution for Indigenous partnerships in the forest sector?

The sector needs to think differently and invest in Indigenous business infrastructure, especially in northern communities. It’s not enough to offer jobs; companies should support Indigenous-owned businesses, like trucking or harvesting companies, that build local capacity.

In northern communities, non-Indigenous forestry operators are retiring, and often, the next generation doesn’t want to inherit the business and sometimes leaves the community altogether. Indigenous people – who’ve lived there since time immemorial – are the ones who remain. As a generation retires and banks become more hesitant to finance forestry operations, Indigenous communities are stepping up to fill those gaps.

By investing in Indigenous business infrastructure and supporting Indigenous-owned companies, the forest industry can build local capacity, strengthen the supply chain and ensure a stable workforce. The more capacity Indigenous communities have, the more certainty we generate for the sector. Supporting Indigenous involvement isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s essential for the future of Canada’s forest industry.

Q: With this in mind, how can a company position themselves well through Indigenous partnerships to face the challenges in our sector?

Whether it’s a small local partnership that will create a handful of jobs or millions of dollars in infrastructure spending, you need to start at the same place.

One of the most important lessons I learned early in my forestry career was about grading trees. When I was at Sault College, we were taught to assess trees for their value – whether they were prime lumber, mixed or just pulp and firewood. During one exercise, our instructor asked us to grade a yellow birch. Most of us called out our guesses from a distance, but he told us we were all wrong. None of us had taken the time to walk around the tree and see its full condition. There could have been a split or rot on the far side that we missed.

That experience stuck with me. It’s a perfect analogy for building Indigenous partnerships: you have to take the time to “walk around the tree” – to truly get to know the community and understand their needs, aspirations and perspectives. Companies shouldn’t assume they know what’s best for Indigenous communities. Instead, they need to spend time in the community, listen and learn. Strong relationships are built on mutual understanding, and that leads to better outcomes for everyone.

Q: You were recently appointed by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to the First Nations Major Projects Coalition Advisory Centre, and you’re the only person with a forestry background. How does that background give you insight into the challenges and opportunities at a national level?

Forestry has the longest-standing relationship with Indigenous communities in Canada. My experience in the sector has grounded my understanding of how business and community intersect. While forestry projects won’t necessarily fit the scale of national initiatives, the lessons learned – about Indigenous partnerships, respect and capacity-building – apply across the economy. I’m grateful for what forestry has taught me, and I carry those insights into all my work. 

Learn more about JP Gladu and his work: JP Gladu: Indigenous economic development leader | Mokwateh

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Scale is a challenge when it comes to disclosure. There are around 6,000 cooperatives in Canada, about half of which are non-profits, and many are quite small. They don’t necessarily have the resources to bring a standardized process around sustainability into their operations, Duguid says.

Recognizing the lack of data and the intrinsic barriers, Duguid and fellow researcher Daphne Rixon asked themselves, “Could we help co-ops to do this better?” Together, they set out to build a dashboard to capture the performance of Canadian cooperatives with respect to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the cooperative principles.

The aim is to create an easy-to-use sustainability tool that enables co-ops to better understand their own sustainability performance and impact and share the results publicly, without adding a lot of work. The platform, called ACT (Accounting for Co-operative Transformation), is backed by the Centre of Excellence in Accounting and Reporting for Co‑operatives at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax and will launch next year.

Work by the Corporate Knights research group confirmed the limited visibility on sustainable impact at Canadian cooperatives. Out of more than 140 co-ops or credit unions in Canada with annual revenues exceeding $5 million in 2023 or 2024, researchers found that only 11 reported their sustainable investments and revenue. Ranked by sustainable impact, five of the top 10 were credit unions, which have more advanced sustainability reporting because they operate in the financial sector.

Sustainable impact at smaller co-ops can’t be measured by the same standard as it is at large credit unions, Duguid suggests. “It wouldn’t be fair to the co-op sector to think that a small bike co-op, for example, should be investing sustainably,” she says. “Their raison d’être is to provide sustainable transportation, and that should speak more than their investments.”

Sustainability Solutions Group (SSG) is a prime example of the tension between the commitment to sustainability and the absence of data-driven recognition for this work. Founded in 2001 in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, the worker cooperative generates greenhouse gas inventories and climate action plans for cities, provinces and states across Canada, the United States and Chile. But with only 50 employees/members, most of whom work from home, the company doesn’t have the capacity to publish a sustainability report.

Despite the lack of clarity surrounding sustainable impact, no one doubts the deep links between the cooperative sector and sustainability. “Most co-ops were invested in sustainability long before it became fashionable,” says Daniel Brunette, senior director of cooperation and engagement at Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada. Recognizing the critical role that co-ops play toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN declared 2025 the International Year of Cooperatives.

Cooperatives are a huge part of the economy. So where’s the training?

Yuill Herbert, founder of SSG, says that the co-op’s shared-ownership model is intrinsically democratic and therefore more likely to pursue sustainable goals. “The co-op is the enterprise manifestation of sustainability,” he says.

Despite the existing core alignment with sustainability, the co-op sector still needs to get on board with reporting, Duguid says. “Co-ops should have been first off the mark with all the reporting about corporate social responsibility and ESG,” Duguid says. “Co-ops do really well in terms of social, economic and community [impact], but environmental can be hard for them to tackle.”

“They were doing that originally, and not just in a greenwashing way, but in a real way,” she says. “But they haven’t done a good job of talking about it.”

Naomi Buck is a writer based in Toronto. Mark Mann is the managing editor at Corporate Knights.

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“I am delighted – but actually not at all surprised – to see your results,” U.K.-based author and entrepreneur John Elkington says. “The U.K. has been a globally significant incubator of thinking on sustainable development, CSR [corporate social responsibility], ESG and climate solutions for decades, with things coming to a head around the time of COP26 [the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference, in Glasgow].”

Exeter in particular has been instrumental in international policy discussions. For the past several years, a team led by professor Pierre Friedlingstein has spearheaded the global carbon budget, one of the COP’s central metrics. Other Exeter initiatives, such as the Global Tipping Points Report led by professor Tim Lenton, also figured centrally in this year’s summit discussions. In fact, several of the United Kingdom’s most influential climate scientists are on faculty at Exeter, and they are part of a team of 1,500 research and education specialists.

These top global MBAs for sustainability are maximizing impact

Likewise, sustainability is deeply embedded in Exeter’s curricula, but that doesn’t make it an exception among the ranking schools. Beth Patmore, MBA course leader at Nottingham Business School, points out that this is part of a broader “systemic shift” in the United Kingdom, where sustainability has also been embedded in national policy frameworks, corporate governance codes and educational standards. “[It] is increasingly seen not as a niche concern but as a foundational lens through which strategy, finance, operations and leadership are taught,” she says.

Take, for example, the business school ranking by the Financial Times in London, a popular resource for MBA applicants. It now gives roughly 20% collective weighting to ESG-related curriculum content, the school’s carbon footprint, and faculty and student diversity among the key criteria in its methodology.

Sustaining a virtuous circle

“To me, this is also a question of supply and demand,” says Frederik Dahlmann, an associate professor of strategy and sustainability in Warwick’s MBA programs. “We know that sustainability matters to our students, for their roles, organizations and future career development, because they tell us it is an important factor when deciding where to study for their MBAs.”

Almost all the programs we contacted for this piece said the same. There is what Dahlmann calls a virtuous circle that is created within this system, where faculty are making meaningful policy and research contributions, attracting students who will go on to do the same, which in turn incentivizes universities to continue to make such contributions.

But what explains this dynamic in the United Kingdom in particular? ESG has waned in popularity in the United States and Canada, with major companies and institutions reneging on sustainability commitments following the election of Donald Trump amid fears of an unfriendly business environment. There were similar fears with businesses pulling back from commitments, fearing penalties from anti-greenwashing legislation (which has since been scaled back).

According to Donald Lancaster, program director of Exeter’s MBA, the likelihood of a similar state of affairs coming to pass in the United Kingdom is low. This is not only because the U.K. government’s pioneering sustainability initiatives have broad cross-party support, but also because strong markets and talent pools have developed around them. Even prior to the election of Trump, Lancaster points out, shareholder value has long been the overriding consideration in the U.S. context. Despite many exemplary sustainability-oriented MBA programs in the United Kingdom, they operate within a different cultural milieu than in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Hugh Wilson, a professor of marketing in Warwick’s MBA programs, suggests that the reason for this cultural discrepancy may be rooted in history. “As the epicentre of two world wars in the 20th century, Europe swung towards greater social and economic equality after each,” he says. European countries have sharp memories of the problems that can accrue in a society where these social and economic factors fall out of balance. Though that postwar ethos has been diluted over time, he proposes that it continues to influence the United Kingdom’s business and educational climate.

“We depend on a socially and environmentally sustainable world; environmental and social crises tend to hit us early and hard,” Wilson says. “[The U.K.] business community is acutely aware of the risks and opportunities that these create.”

Tristan Bronca is an award-winning magazine writer and editor based in Toronto.

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Griffith University MBA Director Professor Naomi Birdthistle is passionate about making change where it matters: in the hearts of a new wave of business leaders, and she explains what ‘doing things differently’ looks like for the MBA program.

As the business world has played a part in creating environmental, social and ethical challenges which can seem insurmountable, how does Griffith’s MBA program contribute to a solution?

The Griffith MBA creates a model of what a future leader needs to be, to deal with wicked problems. Sustainability should become second nature for all business leaders, and they should have SDGs embedded into their decision-making process.

We equip students with a sustainability mindset. We bring out the passion and provide an authentic learning experience.

Ethical leadership is more important than ever in today’s business world. We emphasize the importance of integrity, transparency, and ethical decision-making. From a human and environmental perspective, the business world is increasingly uncertain and volatile. Professionals need to be adaptable and resilient, and we equip students with skills to navigate change and uncertainty. We model adaptability by continuously updating our curriculum to reflect the latest trends and challenges, and the program covers topics such as change management, crisis leadership, and strategic agility.

What sets Griffith’s program apart from other MBAs?

As well as imparting practical business know-how, we believe education should instil values which guide ethical decision-making and responsible leadership. Our curriculum is designed to foster critical thinking, empathy, and a deep understanding of the broader impact of business decisions on society and the environment. Griffith MBA alumni are a new class of professionals, the kind necessary to implement the change needed for a better world.

Human qualities such as emotional intelligence are integral to our curriculum. We understand that effective leadership and management require not only technical skills, but also the ability to navigate interpersonal relationships and understand the emotional dynamics within teams and organizations.

By embedding emotional intelligence throughout our curriculum, we ensure our graduates are capable of leading with empathy, resilience, and a deep understanding of human behaviour. These qualities are essential for creating inclusive, innovative, and high-performing organisations.

Two courses of note include Leading for Sustainable People Outcomes and Developing Values-based Leadership. Students learn how to manage their own emotions and understand the emotions of others, which is crucial for leading diverse teams and fostering a positive work environment.

How do you ensure MBA graduates stay relevant through their career?

We instil a mindset of lifelong learning in our students, because learning doesn’t stop at graduation. We encourage students and alumni to continuously seek new knowledge and skills. We model this through our ‘MBA for Life’ program by offering alumni access to ongoing professional development opportunities and resources.

How important is it to incorporate technology concepts such as artificial intelligence (AI) and automation into the program?

We recognise rapid advancement of technology has transformed how businesses operate and have integrated digital transformation into our curriculum. Our program covers topics such as digital marketing, data analytics, AI, and cybersecurity. Students learn how to leverage technology to drive innovation and efficiency in their organizations. Our extracurricular offerings include mini masterclasses, and a recent session examined how leaders can build AI powered organisations with human-centric values. There are ethical dimensions related to the use of technology, and we are always delivering opportunities for students to consider the challenges related to the responsible adoption of technology.

Griffith has performed exceptionally in sustainable business rankings, how has the program managed to take sustainable business education to the next level?

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aren’t a secondary thought; they are the solid bedrock with which the MBA program is firmly rooted. Sustainability is a central theme in the learning journey of every Griffith MBA student and this commitment is reflected through assessments, case studies and guest speakers across multiple disciplines. We are so confident in our integration of SDGs into our core courses, that we proudly name our courses to reflect ambitious sustainable outcomes, such as: Economics for a Sustainable Future; Sustainability and Systems Thinking; and Leading for Sustainable People Outcomes.

Case studies aligned with the SDGs provide real world business experience, and the hands-on approach helps students to understand the practical implications of sustainable business practices. This gives them the opportunity to develop innovative solutions to wicked problems and challenges.

Why is diversity and inclusion important to Griffith and how do you ensure this value is embedded into the program?

A diverse and inclusive environment enriches the learning experience of students and prepares them to lead in a globalized world. Our graduates are empathetic and culturally aware leaders who are equipped to foster inclusive environments and drive positive change in their organizations and communities.

As an Australian-based university, we actively recruit students from various cultural, professional, and academic backgrounds which fosters a rich exchange of ideas and perspectives. Our curriculum is designed to address issues of diversity and inclusion across all courses and includes topics such as cross-cultural management, inclusive leadership, and global business ethics.

Our students engage in international exchanges, study tours, and collaborations with global institutions and these experiences help students understand and appreciate cultural differences and develop a global mindset. We also ensure our faculty and guest speakers represent a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. This diversity in teaching staff provides students with varied perspectives and role models, enriching their educational journey.

Access is a crucial part of ensuring student diversity, and we offer a range of delivery methods which aim to suit a great number of students. We strive to create a supportive and welcoming environment and provide support services such as mentorship programs, counselling and student organisations which promote diversity and inclusion.

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We strive to put sustainability at the heart of everything we do. It starts with our Sustainability Strategy, which focuses our efforts in three areas: Environmental Stewardship, Our People and Communities and Responsible Business.

The framework, which launched in May 2025, is the result of nearly two years of work, led by our Sustainability Team with the collective feedback of operational and subject matter experts across our business units. The integrated strategy drives all of our operations and commitments as we continue our work as a leading manufacturer of diversified forest products under the ownership of investor Jackson Wijaya.

“I’m tremendously proud of the strategy we’ve created,” says Domtar Chief Sustainability Officer Sabrina de Branco. “Considering the strong history of all our legacy companies, I can say with confidence that Domtar is moving onward and upward while being firmly rooted in sustainability.”

In this article, we’re exploring the first pillar in our strategy: Environmental Stewardship. Upcoming articles will explore the other two pillars and their key objectives.

What Is Environmental Stewardship?

Environmental Stewardship encompasses our efforts to steward the planet’s resources responsibly by reducing the environmental footprint of our everyday operations and setting actionable objectives that positively impact nature and the environment.

“In today’s world, our stakeholders and partners across all sectors are rightfully focused on environmental impact,” says Luc Thériault, president of Domtar’s Wood Products business unit. “For a company like ours that depends on renewable natural resources like wood fiber, this scrutiny isn’t just expected—it’s essential. Our environmental performance must be exemplary, which is why this pillar is fundamental to our strategy.”

This pillar includes four key objectives.

Sustainable Forest Management and Fiber Sourcing

Sustainable forest management and fiber sourcing are critical to our supply chain and the health of forests. We will advance our long-standing commitment to sustainable forest management across Domtar’s value chain for all wood and fiber. By 2030, we are committed to:

• Sourcing 100 percent of our wood and fiber from responsibly managed forests;
• Increasing landowner engagement from seed to harvest, compared to 2025, on practices that deliver social, environmental and economic value; and
• Ensuring Domtar is recognized as a collaborative partner in advancing the status of critical habitat for threatened species.

Positive Biodiversity Impacts

The health of our forests depends on having a healthy level of biodiversity, with an abundance and variety of life existing within the forest ecosystem. Maintaining or improving biodiversity requires an ongoing commitment to sustainable forestry practices and proactive measures to rehabilitate land when the opportunity arises. We will positively impact biodiversity through our forests, fiber supply chain and operational footprint.

By 2030, we will ensure that 100 percent of our operations with risks in high-value areas have action plans in place within one year of their completed assessments.

Decarbonization

Decarbonization—the reduction or removal of carbon dioxide emissions—is a critical pillar of global climate action and a key element of Domtar’s sustainability strategy. At Domtar, we are building on existing good practices and operational strengths to drive meaningful emission reductions across our value chain. This includes identifying and advancing strategic projects at our mills that lower our carbon footprint while safeguarding the long-term viability and competitiveness of our assets.

We’ve already reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by about 1/3 since 2015. We will continue to decarbonize our operations, products and value chain by leveraging renewable, sustainable, fossil-free resources and efficient manufacturing processes. We will achieve our greenhouse gas emission reduction target—to be established by 2026—for target year 2035 or sooner.

Water Resilience

Water is essential to the production of pulp, paper and wood products, and many of our facilities are located near rivers, lakes and watersheds to ensure access to this vital resource. Recognizing that water is a shared and precious natural resource, our goal is to reduce water-related risks and minimize our impact on local ecosystems by optimizing water use, improving treatment processes and collaborating with stakeholders to support watershed health.

Our 2030 targets for this objective include:

• Reducing water use intensity by 20 percent over 2020 baseline in the Paper and Packaging business unit.
• Ensuring 100 percent of our pulp, paper and tissue mills have risk mitigation plans in place within one year of completing assessments.

The Future of Our Environmental Stewardship

As we implement our sustainability strategy and work toward achieving our Environmental Stewardship objectives, we’re simply continuing the sustainability journey we started many years ago.

“We’re already engaged in several high-impact projects that we’re pursuing jointly with environmental non-governmental organizations and others. Certainly, our legacy companies had a strong track record of this type, and we’ve been moving further down this path as the new Domtar,” says Paige Goff, Domtar’s vice president of Sustainability, Strategic Partnerships and Engagement. “We’re looking to grow the number of partnerships and projects that we will engage in over time. And there’s perhaps no better overarching measure of the success of our strategy as a whole than the degree of trust we earn.”

Visit Domtar.com for a full overview of Domtar’s sustainability strategy and recent sustainability report, including objectives and performance targets that define the roadmap for our company’s efforts in the years ahead.

Domtar is of the “Private 25 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World” named by Corporate Knights in 2025.

 

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The “impact” metric was introduced to the Corporate Knights MBA ranking several years ago as a bonus, but this year is the first that it has become part of the official ranking. Corporate Knights evaluated 179 programs and ranked the top 40 for their focus on sustainability. Ninety percent of the score these rankings are based on is awarded for the content of the curriculum, and now 10% has been awarded for impact – what schools’ alumni are doing post-graduation.

The school with the highest score on this measure this year was Bard College in New York, with an impact rating of 56%. Out of 62 graduates, Corporate Knights identified 35 who are either in sustainability roles or working at companies recognized for their sustainability efforts. By comparison, the average alumni rating was 16% among other schools that made the ranking. Only the University of Vermont’s MBA program had a comparable impact rating of 52%. 

For the last three years, Bard has consistently ranked in the top five MBA programs for sustainability. Bard stands out as one of the few business schools specifically designating its MBA as an MBA in Sustainability, another being the University of Vermont. “They are not shy about putting the program’s sustainability focus front and centre,” says Corporate Knights research analyst Muhammad Talha. 

We need our students out changing the world at scale in a hurry.

– Eban Goodstein, founder of the MBA in sustainability, Bard College

Bard’s graduates have compelling stories: a schoolteacher who went on to become a vice president of ESG (environmental, social and governance) for the Americas at Deutsche Bank within just one year of graduating; the emergency medical technician who became a managing consultant at the global firm Guidehouse. Perhaps the most famous example is Chelsea Mozen, who developed the idea for Etsy to offset its carbon emissions from shipping during her capstone project at Bard. Just four years after graduating, she was the chief sustainability officer for Etsy, making it one of the first major global companies to commit to a climate pledge.

“Our students’ interests range from food to fashion to energy. There’s a lot of variability,” says Eban Goodstein, an economist and the founder of Bard’s program. He explains that the program is highly experiential. “I think of it as 20 four-day retreats spread out over two years,” he says. “It’s almost more like a fine arts degree where you are learning directly from artists.”

In Bard’s MBA, students begin working on real-world projects in their first year, often with major industry players. The goal, according to Goodstein, is not just to respond to, but entirely shift how we address – and prevent – mounting environmental and social challenges. “We need our students out changing the world at scale in a hurry,” he adds.

All of the MBA programs on the list open up a multitude of options to get that done. For many of these students, it means taking on a key corporate sustainability role at a global leading company, or launching their own enterprise with values of social responsibility and environmental sustainability embedded in the organization’s DNA. But in a different economy, the approach post-graduation might look very different.

2025 Better World MBA top 40

Take, for example, the top-ranked “large” school, defined as a program with more than 80 graduates annually. This year, the spot belongs to Centrum’s PUCP in Peru. Centrum was one of just two South American schools on the top 40 list (the other, Colombia’s Universidad Externado, jumped from 112 in last year’s ranking to 40 in this year’s).

Centrum operates in a different context than the majority of schools in the ranking, which are overwhelmingly from the Americas or Europe. The Peruvian economy is largely “informal,” associate dean Sandro Sánchez explains. While many Centrum graduates are vying for corporate jobs (about 20 graduates of the last two years landed at companies like Vestas and Schneider Electric), the majority of these students go on to work in – or start – smaller companies, including those outside the urban centres in sectors like mining and agriculture, which remain the engines of the Peruvian economy. 

This is not the same business environment where you tend to see corporate sustainability officers or climate pledges. But this is precisely what makes this training so important. It’s here that graduates’ vision for social and environmentally positive change – a vision they develop in their MBA program – will have the greatest impact.

Tristan Bronca is an award-winning magazine writer and editor based in Toronto.

2025 Better World MBA top 10 large schools

METHODOLOGY

The 2025 Corporate Knights Better World MBA Top 40 ranking examines the performances of 179 business schools, drawn from the most recent FT100 MBA Ranking, the Princeton Review Best Green MBA, the Top 40 from the 2024 Better World MBA ranking, and all current PRME Champions; and business schools accredited by the Association of MBAs, the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) or the EFMD (European Foundation for Management Development) QualityImprovement System (EQUIS) and also signatories to the UN Principles for Responsible Management Education that opt in for evaluation. Based on publicly disclosed information on their websites, schools are evaluated on the sustainability content of their core courses and can review and request revisions to the analysis. Additionally, schools may voluntarily provide the number of recent graduates employed with impact organizations, which is worth 10% of the overall score.

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