At a moment when business schools around the world are being challenged to prepare leaders for an era defined by climate risk, social inequity, and rapid geopolitical change, the Ivey Business School has placed sustainability at the heart of its teaching. That commitment has now earned international recognition: Ivey’s CEMS Masters in Management (MIM) program has been recognized with the 2025 CEMS Sustainability & Social Responsibility Award.
For Dean Julian Birkinshaw, the honour reinforces a growing expectation among students and employers that business education must do more than prepare graduates to manage organizations, it must equip them to make decisions with long-term social and environmental consequences in mind.
“The future of business depends on leaders who can think systemically and responsibly,” Birkinshaw said. “Sustainability can’t sit on the margins of the curriculum. It has to shape how students learn to define problems, analyze evidence, and evaluate the impact of their choices. This recognition affirms our commitment to making that mindset a core part of the Ivey experience.”
A curriculum built around real-world issues
The award, given by the CEMS Global Alliance, acknowledges how deeply sustainability is integrated into Ivey’s CEMS international business curriculum. Rather than treating environmental and social challenges as a standalone topic, every professor teaching in the program evaluates how their course introduces or reinforces key competencies such as diagnosing global business and societal problems, analyzing complex systems, and assessing decisions using economic, environmental, and social lenses.
For Kanina Blanchard, Ivey’s CEMS Program Director, the philosophy is simple: students can’t prepare to lead responsibly if sustainability is treated as something extra.
“Our goal is to embed sustainability throughout the learning journey, not layer it on top,” she said. “Students should encounter these concepts in every course, every project, every conversation about business. When sustainability becomes part of how they think, not just what they study, that’s when real transformation happens.”
Learning extends beyond the classroom
Ivey’s CEMS-MIM program emphasizes immersive, applied learning. One of the standout examples was the 2025 CEMS Regional Summit, co-organized by two national CEMS Clubs. The event explored how businesses are responding to a fast-shifting global landscape, emphasizing sustainability, innovation, and long-term thinking. Participants met with companies that are actively applying ESG practices, climate-risk strategies, and inclusive approaches to innovation.
Students have access to an expanding suite of electives, including courses in ESG reporting, social impact investing, inequality, and carbon markets. CEMS home students can also pursue the Graduate Diploma in Sustainability. The diploma includes practitioner-led sessions and a community-based project that requires students to apply their learning in service of local organizations.
Additionally, the Sustainability & Technology Studio in Itaqui, Brazil, blends cultural immersion with systems thinking and hands-on sustainability problem-solving. This global experience, Blanchard noted, reflects the type of exposure today’s leaders need.
“Students can’t learn about sustainability solely from a classroom,” she said. “They need to see organizations wrestling with it in real time—across cultures, across industries, across societal contexts.”
A model for the future of business education
Ivey’s broader sustainability ecosystem, anchored by the Network for Business Sustainability, Innovation North, and the Regenerator Initiative, connects students with researchers, practitioners, and social entrepreneurs tackling issues from regenerative agriculture to complex organizational change.
For Ivey, the award is both a recognition and an encouragement to continue pushing. The challenges facing future business leaders are evolving quickly, and Birkinshaw sees its role as helping students build the capabilities and the character to meet them.
"This award is a milestone, but it's also a reminder. Preparing responsible leaders isn't a destination. It's an ongoing responsibility."
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