Jose Maillet, Head of Gaïa, talks us through the skills, capabilities, and approaches preparing tomorrow’s business leaders for future sustainability challenges
The world of business and corporations shoulders responsibility for climate change – the well-circulated Carbon Majors research stats showing that just 100 fossil fuel companies have been the source of more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988 may be six years old, but they’re no less staggering today.
But that doesn’t mean things can’t change. The UN Global Compact recognises, for example, that the successful delivery of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development requires engagement and contribution from all businesses. The next generation of business leaders have a pivotal role to play in delivering the change that’s needed, making the provision of the necessary skills, capabilities and sustainability-driven mindset crucial.
That’s where education programmes like Gaïa, created to set students at France’s Audencia Business School on the path to ‘virtuous organisational transformation’, come in. During a Gaïa semester, students learn to develop a culture of impact by mixing knowledge from management, environmental sciences, humanities and technology. Head of the programme, Jose Maillet, told us more about how the school is preparing tomorrow’s leaders to contribute to positive change.
“Ecological and social issues aren’t sufficiently taken into account in companies, but ignoring or underestimating them isn’t an option”
— Jose Maillet, Head of Gaïa, Audencia
Why establish Gaïa, and why is it essential tomorrow’s leaders prioritise environmental and social challenges as much as they do any other traditional leadership skill?
Gaïa was created to widely integrate ecological and social transition issues into our business school. Corporate Social Responsibility has been taught here for a long time, but transition issues are essential to meet 21st century challenges. Faced with the devastating consequences of global warming, disappearing biodiversity and growing social inequality, students receive in-depth training in impact management strategies so they can play an active role in the virtuous transformation of organisations.
What kinds of climate change-related challenges impact organisational strategy and development?
Ecological and social issues aren’t sufficiently taken into account in companies, but ignoring or underestimating them isn’t an option. Water shortages, heatwaves putting a strain on infrastructure, and the increasing scarcity of natural resources limiting access to raw materials are affecting all sectors of activity and society as a whole. Recurring heatwaves and the absence of clean tap water affect businesses, but also cause public health problems like excess mortality and sick leave, for which adaptation strategies must be thought out and put in place now.
Can you explain what ‘culture of impact’ means within the context of a business and how it contributes to sustainable development?
The culture of impact has historically been represented by a triptych of sustainable development: for a society to function sustainably, it must simultaneously integrate environmental, social, and economic issues into all its activities. The operational difficulty of linking these three pillars, particularly within companies, has led to new models like the Doughnut Economic theory, which suggests that all economic activity must respect a social flooring below which it must not fall in order to avoid excessive inequality and poverty, and an environmental ceiling which must not be exceeded in order to maintain a healthy and liveable planet.
“Gaïa now offers a Master 1 in ‘Management of the ecological and social transition’, a programme made up of 20 courses covering all the SDGs”
— Jose Maillet, Head of Gaïa, Audencia
How does the course and its subject matter align with the goals and targets set out in the SDGs?
Gaïa now offers a Master 1 in ‘Management of the ecological and social transition’, a programme made up of 20 courses covering all the SDGs. Each course focuses on several of the goals, but it’s difficult for students to create a framework of SDGs that can be used universally. They represent a good basis for developing a culture of impact, but the overall coherence of all the SDGs remains complex to apply, and the diversity of the jobs held by students on graduation means that the SDGs must be integrated on a case-by-case basis.
In the context of the impacts of climate change, what role do tomorrow’s leaders and their businesses play in driving positive outcomes?
Companies are both the problem and the solution. On the one hand their business models encourage consumers to over-consume their products and services, leading to major environmental degradation. On the other hand, they’re made up of people who perceive and understand the ecological challenges, and who want to be part of a virtuous transformation of their company in the service of society. These transformations remain tentative, but changes in business models are gradually emerging, sometimes out of conviction on the part of management and employees, and sometimes in response to shortages of raw materials and climate change, which are damaging or undermining the economic model of a growing number of companies.