Sustainability

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Sustainability

We care deeply about sustainability and are committed to building a better future: one that is fairer, more inclusive and more mindful.

We have been the first business school in Europe to be certified as a B Corp in 2020 and have been a Benefit Corporation since 2023.

We underwent this process because we are convinced that every company plays a fundamental role in creating a better future, and that for this reason it must rethink its own raison d’être and its own purpose. As a School, we have the possibility to inspire people who work in other companies or who create their own, bringing them on board with the project, and this is why we believe in it so strongly.

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A B Corp Business School

One of the main reasons we did this was because we completely understand the role that every company will play in building a better tomorrow for everyone.

Every single business will need to rethink its purpose and raison d’être, putting front and centre the role that it wants to hold in society. And of course, this is even more relevant for us as a school, because we can directly inspire people from different companies to join forces with us on this journey.
And there’s even more. Since we’re a B Corp Business School, we get the chance to partner with a powerful network of companies around the world – companies that really care about their impact on sustainability. B Corp certified companies form an international community with the common goal of combining profit with collective well-being, while at the same time caring for the environment and society as a whole. Around 3,400 companies have been awarded this certification, and about one hundred of them are in Italy.

Discover more about our Purpose

Being a Benefit Corporation commits us to pursuing ever higher standards of purpose, accountability and transparency. In our annual Impact Report we share our objectives and results, focusing on the priorities of our stakeholders and our aims of common benefit.

Read the Impact Report

Initiatives involving our Students, Corporate Customers & Alumni

Masters in sustainability
By now it’s clear that there are deep interconnections between business, society, and the environment. We’re convinced that the only way to achieve a lasting improvement in the economic performance of companies and countries is if we protect people and their dignity, improve social welfare, manage natural resources properly, protect the environment, and promote professional ethics. That’s why we want to train the next generation to be inspired by these principles and to get familiar with sustainability solutions at all levels of management. To help you on your way, we are offering three full-time programmes delivered in English on the topics of Environmental Sustainability and Circular Economy, Sustainability Management and Corporate Social Responsibility, and Entrepreneurship and Design for Sustainability.
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Leave Your Mark
Promoted by POLIMI GSoM in partnership with the Gianluca Spina Association, the “Leave Your Mark” initiative, with its 2023 edition being the third, is designed to allow managers, professionals and young talents who have studied with us to make their skills available, pro bono, to non-profit institutions that play a key role in building a more inclusive society and a better future. It is a great opportunity for growth, both human and professional, but also the chance to give back to the community part of what participants received during their course. The initiative combines our Business School’s purpose − “to shape a better future for all” − with the desire to contribute to a more sustainable future, as well as to encourage a positive impact on society and collaboration with institutions that can benefit from the experience and knowledge of our alumni and our faculty. In the first three editions, over 50 alumni and 15 faculty members supported 21 locally and internationally active non-profits in business model and development, app development, marketing analysis, fundraising and crowdfunding strategies, catalogue management and volunteer management.

Visit the website dedicated to the initiative

Innovators' Talks
Innovators’ Talks is POLIMI Graduate School of Management’s series of original podcasts that has been published continuously since 2021. The episodes, hosted by faculty members and school staff, involve representatives of companies, startups and associations who share their experiences and vision of innovation, sustainability, impact and purpose.

The podcasts cover topics such as the environment and circular economy, entrepreneurship, education, technology, finance, ethics and sport, in a library of over 60 episodes, all available on a dedicated page on our website and on the main podcast platforms (Spotify e Apple Podcasts).

SoM Prize for SDGs
Gianluca Spina Association awards are presented each year to those project works undertaken by our alumni that put forward a contribution to solving the social challenges of our time and identifying sustainable development models on an environmental, economic and social level. They are evaluated by a panel of experts, with awards being given to projects that demonstrate an impact on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as research into projects, products or personal services for the promotion of health and wellbeing, for gender equality, for the protection of the environment and the circular economy, for the conservation of cultural heritage and for the improvement of the living conditions of disadvantaged people.

Innova Europe
This challenge, first launched in 2023 in collaboration with EDHEC Business School and ESMT Berlin, is being renewed and extended in 2024. It brings together students and alumni of the main business schools with the aim of identifying innovative ideas and projects within the scope of the 17 United Nations sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

It is an opportunity for participants to turn ideas into concrete projects and shape the future through innovative and sustainable solutions. Sustainability is a topic that affects everyone, so it is even more meaningful that business schools from many countries take part in the challenge. Only in this way does it allow for stimulating international competition, but it also offers the opportunity to see the winning idea transformed into a tangible reality.

Shaping Purposeful Futures
A workshop that has evolved into a Call 4 Ideas has been renewed annually since 2021 to involve some of our Business School’s students (over 100 took part in the last edition alone) in matters relating to sustainability, purpose, and impact. Inspired by the contributions of some exceptional speakers, groups of students challenge each other for a day to generate ideas that can become concrete, scalable projects which can generate a positive impact for the community.

During these challenges, students have the opportunity to come into contact with innovative ideas, to become protagonists of our purpose, and to work on topics such as collaboration with non-profit organisations, services to fragile communities, and the continuous innovation of the School.

Shape the future
This major event, held annually to date from 2021 to 2023, is dedicated to the Business School Alumni Community on the topics of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability.

It is an opportunity for our alumni to be inspired by representatives of Italian and international companies, as well as for networking and exchanging views. The revenue from the 2023 edition was donated in the form of scholarships for the New-Generation MBA to deserving students who would otherwise not have had the opportunity to undertake this course.

Read more about the 2023 edition here

Masterpieces, Stories of working people
This initiative was launched in September 2023 in collaboration with Paolo Cevoli on the theme of purpose, with the aim of telling stories of companies that have helped their employees to find motivation for work and stories of people who have become free not from work but in their work.

The project consists of a series of video interviews that inspire through the experiences of companies that have helped their employees give meaning to their working day, whether they are large multinationals or small artisan businesses.

The project is also linked to a fundraiser to support five non-profit organisations that aim to combat marginalisation and poverty and provide disadvantaged people with opportunities for personal recovery, and training and professional development.

Visit the website dedicated to the initiative

POLIMI GSoM Academy for non-profit
In line with the School's purpose "We are committed to nurturing innovators to shape a better future for all", POLIMI Graduate School of Management offers the non-profit organizations pro bono educational opportunities through intensive courses specifically selected from the Management Academy catalog and video clips on specific thematic areas from the School's library.

For more information, visit the dedicated page.

Initiatives involving our Staff

All of this translates into a learning offer that embraces experimentation and continuous innovation, prioritising concrete tools that can be immediately applied in companies, a solid scientific foundation, and a constant connection with the world of work and entrepreneurship.

Sustainability Round Tables
These cross-team work projects within the Business School have the aim of formulating ideas, projects, initiatives and action plans designed to materially spread the importance of social and environmental issues, inclusion and the fight against all forms of injustice and discrimination, and to encourage and incentivise their contribution through the involvement of staff, students and, more generally, stakeholders of our organisation and local communities.

Emission Compensation
POLIMI Graduate School of Management actively contributes to climate change mitigation by supporting high-impact environmental projects through collaboration with Green Future Project. In May 2023, a project was launched which aims to calculate via algorithm and neutralising the CO2 emissions associated with the School’s employees for 12 months through the financing of 4 environmental projects, which specifically involve:
generating 755,550 MWh of clean energy in Tamil Nadu wind farm (India);
the regeneration of mangrove forests through the planting of native species at the Marovolavo plant site (Madagascar);
the preservation of the Canandé reserve (Ecuador);
the preservation of the Narupa reserve (Ecuador).

Milan Relay Marathon with PlayMore!
The Milan Relay Marathon is a non-competitive relay race that allows all participants to run for a non-profit organisation of their choice, contributing to raising funds for the solidarity projects of the approximately 100 participating associations.

Since 2023, we have been participating in the race with a corporate team in collaboration with PlayMore!, a non-profit organisation that promotes inclusive sporting and social activities, with particular attention to people with disabilities or who are economically disadvantaged.

Governance, Rating & Other Stakeholders

Benefit Company
Our focus on sustainability and building a better future – one more equitable, inclusive and aware – is part of the school’s DNA, stemming from our purpose. That is why, in 2023, we became a Benefit Company, including in our statute common benefit purposes linked to environmental and social aspects, introducing the school’s Sustainability Manager into our organisation chart and committing ourselves to publishing an annual Impact Report to present our sustainability progress and goals publicly.

B Corp
In 2020, we were the first Business School in Europe to receive B Corp certification, a recognition obtained through the rigorous B Impact Assessment process, which measures, manages and improves the company’s positive impact on workers, customers, suppliers, communities and the environment. In 2023 we started the re-assessment process.

As a B Corp, we are also part of a large network of companies that work together to create a positive impact in terms of sustainability, a community that aims to make profit coexist with the pursuit of the collective good, care for the environment and society as a whole.

EcoVadis
EcoVadis is an international business sustainability rating that evaluates companies (around 125,000 companies from over 200 sectors have been assessed) on the environment, working practices and human rights, ethics and sustainability. To monitor our sustainability results, ensure transparency in relation to our practices and advance our continuous improvement journey, our Business School underwent the EcoVadis sustainability review for the first time in 2023, obtaining a bronze medal. In 2024 we improved our score, obtaining a silver medal, that testifies to oru continuous progress on the sustainability front. Read the news here.

Co2alizione
We have formally committed ourselves to integrating the objective of climate neutrality, believing it essential to act to limit global warming to 1.5°C and to contribute to the achievement of the climate-neutrality objectives that the European Union has established for 2050. We are aware that the fight against climate change is and must be an objective for everyone: signing this commitment was not only a formality − it also allowed us to join a network of companies engaged in the exchange of best practices and the search for real answers to the critical climatic situation: long-term innovative solutions, from governance to operational and business models.

Carbon Footprint and Conscious Training
Since 2023, we have been calculating and publishing our Scope 1 emissions (direct emissions, including fossil fuels used for heating buildings) and Scope 2 emissions (indirect emissions generated from purchased, acquired, and consumed energy). Currently, the calculation of Scope 3 emissions is underway, and since October 2024, we have activated a new project, "Conscious Training", with the aim of calculating, reducing, and offsetting the additional emissions from the Corporate area training programs of our School. Furthermore, since 2023, POLIMI GSoM collaborates with its partner, Green Future Project, for offset projects.

Learn more about POLIMI GSoM Carbon Footprint goals

Impact Committee
The Impact Committee is an advisory body created with the aim of strengthening our Business School’s commitment to sustainability and positive impact. It is composed of experts, other professionals and internal and external stakeholders and provides strategic support to the Executive Board, helping to identify new challenges and trends in the field of sustainability, promote the dissemination of best practices and share external perspectives to enrich our School's strategy.

Sustainability Delegation
POLIMI Graduate School of Management, which together with the Department of Management Engineering of the Politecnico di Milano constitutes the POLIMI School of Management, has had since 2017 a working group, the Sustainability Delegation, which involves staff, faculty members, and researchers of the School for the pursuit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Articles

A collection of articles and interviews to explore in depth the projects launched by our School

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Videos

A dive into the world of POLIMI Graduate School of Management, seen through the eye of the camera.

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Podcast

What are the innovations that are changing our present and improving our future? Let’s discover them together with the new episodes of Innovators’ Talks.

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