IE Business School Offers Undergrads a Certificate in Sustainability

IE Business School will offer a Sustainability and Environmental Management (SEM) certificate to undergraduate students starting next academic year, providing a holistic approach to address a range of environmental challenges.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that, by 2030, 24 million jobs worldwide could be created by the green economy alone. This will happen across all industries and at all levels (STEM, policymaking/lobbying, AND the corporate world, entrepreneurship, and business activity). According to a LinkedIn's report, job postings that required green skills increased 8% annually over the past five years, but the share of green talent grew by just 6%.

“Sustainability nowadays is not a new trend, it is a must,” said Professor Felipe Quintana, who will teach Achieving Sustainability through Supply Chain Management in the new program.

“Academia plays a key role providing leaders of the future with the knowledge in a practical way about how to be sustainable, disintegrating sustainability and understanding the role of each area of the company, including the supply chain.”
Felipe Quintana, Professor of Achieving Sustainability through Supply Chain Management

IE University has been a pioneer in sustainability issues, ranked in the top 10% of universities worldwide in the Times Higher Education Impact Ranking last month that assessed 1406 universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The undergraduate initiative comes just after master students were offered the Foundations in Sustainability Certificate.

SEM students will dedicate 15 credits to classes on ecosystems, supply chain, sustainability and other subjects to use an innovative mindset to address challenges like climate change, to energy, food and water security and ecosystem degradation.

“The world needs radical ideas to solve complex problems and to reshape a new future for the next generations,” said Professor Carlos Marquerie, who will teach Disruptive Innovation Ecosystems” (the ‘moonshot’ final project).

Marquerie’s course will apply the new paradigm of Moonshots, how to solve unsolved big problems, with radical ideas and applying deep technologies.

“Imagination, theoretical frameworks, and teamwork will be the pillars of this course. We will understand the concept of ‘disruption’ in the context of sustainability transition to critically assess its value, pitfalls and potentials,” he said.

The SEM certificate is designed to give students skills and tools to apply transversely across all work sectors in a multidisciplinary way, and is not designed only for those who plan to work in companies exclusively dedicated to SDGs.

“Placing sustainability at the heart of daily decision making has become a critical element of the professional practice of any organization striving to lead their area of activity,” said Professor Concepción Galdón who will teach Sustainable Innovation to Empower Impactful Management and Business.

“With this certificate, you will boost your career opportunities and show potential employers that you’re aligned with their values and capable of implementing sustainability-based action.”
Concepción Galdón Professor of Sustainable Innovation to Empower Impactful Management and Business