The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Leadership Program aims to provide current and future business leaders with an in-depth understanding of sustainability challenges and opportunities to inform their strategic decision-making.
Photo: WBCSD Education is central to the improvement of the lives of people globally. With the stand-alone Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education and its related targets, the 2030 development agenda recognises that education is essential for the success of sustainable development as a whole.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Leadership Program aims to provide current and future business leaders with an in-depth understanding of sustainability challenges and opportunities that will feed into their strategic decision-making. It is designed to help leaders in navigating the often complex interdisciplinary topics and concepts that will influence their future, as well as that of their organisations.
Sustainable businesses will need to be more successful in the future. It is therefore critical for the next generation of leaders to understand the importance of sustainability to their businesses and integrate the opportunities and challenges in their core business strategy.
“The WBCSD Leadership Program is a key opportunity for member companies to strengthen their network across industries and geographies, bring some ‘outside-in’ perspectives on key sustainability issues and help their young leaders to be better prepared to seize future business opportunities. As a participant you are both an ambassador for your company but also a challenger, looking at what the company can do better,” said one of the participants.
WBCSD also recognises the importance of the ‘voice of the future’ and each year, participants of the programme share their personal thoughts and calls to action with a wide audience – CEOs and senior executives – during the annual WBCSD Council meeting.
To support the sustainability education of today’s and tomorrow’s business leaders, WBCSD has developed a number of tools, methodologies and principles and will continue to develop the training needed to better understand the roles of natural, social and financial capital.
Collaboration being a key element, the WBCSD partners with the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES) and the Yale School of Management (SOM) to promote collaboration between Yale scholars and global business leaders in addressing critical sustainability issues. The partnership enables Yale students and faculty to engage directly with business leaders from across the WBCSD network with the ultimate aim of inspiring management practices – particularly across the 25-school Global Network for Advanced Management (GNAM) – that better address the business challenges of the 21st century.
For more information about the WBCSD’s Leadership Program, contact Suzanne Feinmann ( ).
