Warwick Business School ranked second globally for sustainability

By Nicky Godding

15 November 2022

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Warwick Business School has been ranked second in the world for teaching and researching sustainability.

Clean capitalism magazine Corporate Knights revealed its annual Better World Full-time MBA ranking and named WBS top in the UK and Europe and second in the world after assessing 160 programmes across the globe.

The school has not been outside the top three of the ranking for the last five years, illustrating how sustainability and the 17 United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) have been embedded throughout the core school's MBA modules and its research.

Andy Lockett Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and Dean of WBS, said: “Sustainability and the climate change crisis is the number one issue facing the world, and it will take the whole world coming together in partnership to solve it.

“By teaching our students how sustainability should be at the heart of all decision-making in an organisation and giving them the practical tools to implement net-zero initiatives at their company, we hope a new generation of business leaders will drive the transformation needed to stop devastating climate change.

“Our world-class research on the many issues in building a socially and environmentally sustainable world is also influencing policymakers and business, with many of our academics part of the Institute for Global Sustainable Development.

“Warwick is committed to reaching net-zero by 2050 for all its emissions, including procured goods and services, with the additional milestone of decarbonising energy supply by 2030.”

Business schools were assessed by Corporate Knights on key indicators that covered: course integration of sustainability issues, research publications on sustainability topics, sustainability-focused research institutes and centres, faculty gender diversity and racial diversity.

Corporate Knights found that 69 per cent of the school’s MBA modules include the UN’s SDGs, while 79 per cent of WBS research also centres on sustainability issues.

The ranking also looked into the diversity of business schools, with 27 per cent of faculty at WBS having ethnically diverse backgrounds.

Hugh Wilson, Co-Chair of the WBS Working Group on Social & Environmental Sustainability and Professor of Marketing, said: “This is great news for WBS and a strong indication of our commitment to building a more sustainable business model.

“Sustainability isn’t a destination but a journey that we are determined to progress on. We are tackling the challenge holistically across research, teaching, public engagement and operations. We are also holistic in addressing the world’s deeply interwoven environmental and social challenges together.

“In 2020 Warwick declared a climate emergency, recognising that this decade is crucial if we are to prevent catastrophic global heating. We are determined that Warwick should not only contribute to the changes in business practices and policies needed to achieve this, but should equally be at the centre of the drive to build a socially and environmentally sustainable society."

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.