When Jayant Chaurasia began his studies at Nova School of Business and Economics in Portugal, his view of sustainability was narrow. “These past few years have completely changed the way I perceive and understand sustainability. I always used to think it was just about environmental protection or reducing waste.” 

“Now, when I sit back and think about it, I realise that sustainability is related to everything; it is about how we live, build businesses, and think about the future.”

The labour market reflects the same shift. In India, workers with green skills are 59.7 per cent more likely to be hired than the overall workforce, one of the strongest advantages recorded globally, according to LinkedIn’s 2025 Green Skills report.

Green talent stands at 14.4 per cent of jobs, but the country recorded one of the highest year on year growth rates globally in 2025 at 6.2 per cent. 

Taken together, these figures show a global economy rapidly embedding sustainability into mainstream employment and career growth.

For many organisations, sustainability only gains credibility when tested against cost structures and supply chains, requiring professionals to connect it to every part of their work.

As a result, Business schools have responded by prioritising execution alongside theory, reframing sustainability as a series of career-long business decisions with measurable consequences.

“Through case studies and applied projects, I learned how sustainability connects directly to business strategy. This helped me move from abstract ideas to practical decision making”, highlighted Vanshika Gaurav Patel, Bachelor of Business Administration graduate from HIM Business School.

Catherine da Silveira, Programme Director of the CEMS Master’s in International Management at Nova SBE, explains that sustainability should not be treated as a standalone subject. “The best way to teach sustainability is to embed it in all courses’ curriculum, across all disciplines.” She adds, “all courses’ syllabi provide the list of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) addressed by the teaching team.” 

Professor Esha Mendiratta at Vlerick Business School agrees. “Our programmes are designed with a bias for action, while remaining grounded in solid evidence,” she explains. “People and planet impacts are part of the decision-making process and assessment criteria.” 

INSEAD takes a similar approach. “In April 2023, the school embedded sustainability into all its 14 core MBA courses and introduced a mandatory capstone challenging students to integrate sustainability learnings across all management areas,” shares Professor Mark Stabile. “Upon graduation, they will be equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to drive business performance while also making a positive impact.” 

Yet, da Silveira cautions, the organisations that need this new generation of change makers the most (typically large hierarchical organisations) are no longer the companies that young professionals prioritise in their job searches. “Many of them increasingly give priority to jobs and organisations where they believe they can make an impact from day one,” she says.

To create that same “day one” impact, at Corvinus University of Budapest, Katalin Ásványi, Dean for Sustainability, emphasises direct engagement by immersing students in real-world challenges through partnerships with community organisations and businesses. Students can develop CSR projects that directly address societal needs aligned with the UN’s SDGs. 

“Young people can drive business sustainability by bringing fresh perspectives, strong values, and a proactive mindset into the workplace,” Ásványi says, adding, “even without formal authority, they can influence change.” For large organisations where hierarchies and processes are deeply embedded, such influence is often incremental but no less significant – something leaders should note.

Professor Florian Stahl of Mannheim Business School agrees. Students there are trained to intervene in decisions, not merely analyse them from a distance. “Young professionals can already play a vital role in helping businesses become more sustainable,” he states. 

They just need to be heard. Jayant’s classes at Nova SBE illustrate how communication can play a vital role. “One of my most impactful experiences was during a project with ACA Group, a construction company in Portugal,” he explains. “We were part of a challenge to help them become more sustainable. Together with a team of students from different countries, we created a plan called EcoACA.” Their contribution focused on communication and engagement, areas where sustainability efforts can often fail if not managed correctly. 

A comparable moment emerged for Himanshu Todwal, an MBA student at INSEAD, working with Indian Oil to reduce plastic waste in the textile industry. “I led a sustainability initiative focused on establishing a circular economy model by converting used PET bottles into eco-friendly garments,” he shares. What mattered most was whether the idea could withstand scrutiny. “This internal pilot helped validate the model’s viability economically, environmentally, and socially.”

For Vanshika Gaurav Patel, from HIM, that standard is essential. “To make a real impact on sustainability, students need more than technical knowledge,” she says. “They need systems thinking to understand long-term consequences, analytical skills to measure impact and ability to collaborate across teams.” As she puts it, “Sustainability in business is ultimately about making responsible decisions that are also economically viable.”

The shift is personal as well as institutional. As Jayant Chaurasia (Nova SBE) reflects, “I went from feeling unsure to realizing that I could come up with fundamental, practical ideas to create change.”

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