Program

Contact [email protected] for more information.

This professional certificate program will be offered 100% online and led by industry sustainability leaders, including Bruno Sarda, who is also an instructional lead for ASU’s Executive Master of Sustainability Leadership (EMSL) program. Sessions will be also be facilitated by faculty experts from the College of Global Futures and School of Sustainability.

The learning program – including faculty and small team interactions – will require 3-4 hours of your time per week for six consecutive weeks. This program will leverage ASU’s decade of experience as a global leader and innovator in online education to create a truly unique online professional development opportunity.

This proven workshop will not be a theoretical or doom-and-gloom treatment of sustainability, but instead will explore several core areas of opportunity.

Participants will leave with a professional certificate from ASU and a diverse cohort of peers that will form their new sustainability network. The program also includes follow-up activities after the initial six weeks. 

Program outcomes

  1. Reconsider current organizational practices through the strategic lens of sustainability and systems thinking.
  2. Apply the context of global sustainability challenges and opportunities to your organization’s ESG and sustainability goals.
  3. Identify and promote the business case for sustainability, resilience, and innovation return on investment for your organization.
  4. Utilize storytelling communication principles to advance sustainability with organizational leaders and other stakeholders.
  5. Analyze sustainability leadership principles for increased presence and effectiveness at your organization.

Session topics

  • Global context to organizational practice
    This session will focus on sustainability concepts and how to interpret the global context for prioritizing organizational goals and actions. Various sustainability frameworks, from the SDGs to the TCFD, will be demystified. Find out how to use them to inform the “what” of sustainability in an organizational frame. Also covered will be the important role of stakeholders, how to define and measure success, and organization examples.
  • Sustainability leadership impact
    This session will focus on sustainability leadership principles as well as the distinct challenges faced by individuals and organizations in these leadership positions. Strategies for integrating sustainability principles within the organization, including empowering employees, communicating upwards, and influencing leadership or other stakeholders will be addressed.
  • Storytelling for sustainability impact
    Effective sustainability leaders know how to use stories to amplify their impact and engage others. Too often practitioners default to statistics, facts, charts and graphs. In this immersive sustainable storytelling session participants will apply proven narrative techniques to create effective and meaningful communications to increase their influence, build rapport, and enhance their authenticity and persuasiveness to advance their sustainability initiatives.
  • Making the business case for investments in sustainability
    How does an organization make the business case for sustainability investments? What factors are key to sustainability ROI? This session will explore the “hard” and “soft” sides of decision-making for evaluating the financial potential of sustainability initiatives. Financial cases will be examined to assess and justify addressing eco-efficiency (energy, water, and waste), as well as natural capital and conservation, carbon offsets, supply risk, reputation risk, and ethical sourcing within the context of sustainable supply chains.
  • Sustainability strategy
    As sustainability becomes a core strategic goal of any organization, it impacts all aspects of the organization. This session explores the interface between strategy and sustainability that underpins authentic and transparent strategic efforts. Participants explore how to use ESG and sustainability concepts as a platform for success with their products and customer/client service by creating opportunities with resources, time and talent.

View full program schedule here.

Program Schedule

Who should attend?

This seminar is designed for mid-career professionals representing a diversity of roles, ranks, company sizes and industries. This includes managers, directors, senior directors, vice presidents and senior vice presidents — all those with strategic oversight of sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR) or the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG), as well as operational managers who aspire to such a role. Although many of the examples used in the course will feature the private sector, professionals from the government, nonprofit and education sectors will be able to apply virtually all of the lessons from the course.