Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/535050
JULY | AUGUST 2015 BizEd 47 set out a common direction for the Glob- al North and South on governance and human rights, energy and climate, food and agriculture, water and sanitation, health, education, and gender equality. Second, this December in Paris, the 2015 U.N. Climate Change Confer- ence will attempt to negotiate a legally binding and universal agreement among all nations on what steps to take to abate climate change. While progress in this area has been tortuous and slow, governments have sent positive signals that they are committed to the cause. For instance, leaders of 28 EU coun- tries have agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. And the United States and China have started to pave the way for potentially significant declines in greenhouse gas emissions. Neither the SDGs nor climate change protocols can be achieved without the involvement of business, but there are signs that global businesses do support the agendas. For instance, at the 2013 U.N. Global Compact Leaders' Summit, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unveiled the Post-2015 Business En- gagement Architecture, which discusses how corporations can contribute to the SDGs. (For information, visit www. unglobalcompact.org/resources/441.) At Ban's 2014 Climate Summit, more than 1,000 companies from 60 coun- tries called for a stable price for carbon. Firms like Philips, Yara, DSM, GSK, and SAB Miller are now putting well-being and sustainability at the heart of their corporate strategies. The question remains: How can we accelerate the business contribution to sustainable development? It's obvious that management education has a key role to play. TWO PRME EXAMPLES Business schools already are involved in activities that align with the SDGs. For instance, a growing number of business programs emphasize how companies can successfully compete and collaborate in the marketplace while engaging in sustainable practices. More schools are joining initiatives such as the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative, the Academy of Business in Society, and the U.N.-supported Principles for Responsi- ble Management Education (PRME). Individual schools also are develop- ing strategies for producing graduates who understand the importance of sus- tainability in the business world. Here are just two examples: Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts—an early signatory of PRME—is working to integrate eth- ics, responsibility, sustainability, and community engagement throughout its curriculum. To facilitate this goal, the school has created "Gadfly," a weeklong faculty development workshop in which faculty explore how to integrate ethical issues into their courses. The name ref- erences Socrates, who described himself as a gadfly whose purpose was to sting ILLUSTRATION BY CURTIS PARKER SUSTAINABILITY