The Future of Sustainable Business: Enterprise and the Environment
Overview
This course will help you to address the world’s greatest challenges in reaching net zero and meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Discover the expectations and opportunities for sustainable business management, and explore the emerging tools to facilitate leadership in the creation of a positive future.
The Future of Sustainable Business: Enterprise and the Environment is certified by CPD UK’s (Continuing Professional Development) Certification Service.
Five themes underpin our approach to this course:
- Intellectual curiosity: keeping an open mind, appreciating diverse worldviews, perspectives and possible solutions to the net zero and sustainable development (NZSD) challenge.
- Application in practice: being able to understand business sustainability concepts and apply them practically, with confidence.
- Integration and application of interdisciplinary knowledge: understanding and accounting for the way in which the NZSD challenge – and possible solutions – intersect across multiple disciplines.
- Personal connection and purpose: finding your unique connection to NZSDG – both personally as well as within your domain of professional practice.
- Leadership for complex challenges and impactful solutions: leading impactful change within enterprise – and beyond – to tame wicked problems relating to business sustainability.
Program details
Throughout this Future of Sustainable Business course, you will build your understanding of the scale and potential severity of the challenges we face, but also be empowered to adopt a mindset of seeing these as opportunities for change and a renewed focus on sustainability leadership.
- You will see the diversity of impacts from climate change and unsustainable development framed from different organisations and global perspectives.
- You will be introduced to the latest thinking about economic systems, technologies, finance, and policies to accelerate a sustainable transition.
- You will gain insights into navigating the multiple often conflicting objectives sustainable business strategy demands.
- The course prepares you to understand, participate in, and create a future in which the businesses that contribute to sustainability thrive.
Modules
Each week your assessment tasks will vary but each module gives you the opportunity to test your sustainable business management knowledge with knowledge check questions, ensuring you’re on track with your learning targets. You will also be able to join discussions specific to your interests with peers and a course Facilitator.
In your final assignment, you will demonstrate your understanding of the various business sustainability concepts that have been considered during this course and use them to develop a pitch about how you would like to lead strategic change. You are encouraged to choose how you present your pitch by either submitting it as a written document or recording yourself presenting in an audio or video format.
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Define key terms and concepts related to net zero and the sustainable development goals (NZSDG);
- engage with these concepts and confidently apply them in practice;
- appreciate and account for conflicting objectives and tensions between interests, actors, and geographies in relation to NZSDGs; and
- situate and reflect on your own motivations and objectives related to NZSDGs.
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Understand how current conceptualisations of enterprise and the environment are the product of historical events – including key “tipping points”;
- evaluate previous corporate responses to social and environmental issues and analyse why these responses are failing to meet our current challenges;
- account for the significance of social and environmental irresponsibility to business; and
- assess how robust different approaches are for achieving business sustainability.
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Define net zero, understand its scientific underpinnings, and account for the interdependence between ecological, social, and economic systems;
- understand the changes to our energy systems as part of a low-carbon transition;
- understand the essential ideas of systems theory and thinking in systems; and
- identify possible solutions for transitions to net zero, appreciating the interplay of policy, markets, behaviour and technology to enact them.
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Define the concept of Planetary Boundaries and outline its key features;
- understand interconnections between the SDGs, net-zero and enterprise; and
- identify the SDGs important to your business or contexts of importance for you and understand possible strategies for addressing them.
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Understand the role of financial markets as both a cause of – and solution to – unsustainable development and greenhouse gas emissions;
- identify the key instruments currently in use to leverage and align financial systems and corporate finance to sustainability; and
- consider how to translate knowledge of net zero and the SDGs into financial strategies for a sustainable future.
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Define the principles of regenerative and circular economy and conceptualise them as solutions to the linear economy;
- evaluate the challenges and opportunities of business transformations inclusive of factors such as the changing nature of work, emerging technologies, and managing innovation; and
- explore different approaches to facilitate and manage innovation and transformation in business.
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Understand how socio-technical interventions can accelerate the transition to NZSDGs;
- learn strategic questions to use in your evaluation of new technologies emerging to address sustainability and transform business;
- situate the relationship between business and different scales of policy and global governance for sustainability, considering how they present opportunities and risks; and
- understand the role of the law for supporting NZSDG, particularly in relation to businesses.
As part of this final module, you will submit your final summative assignment. This will involve developing a pitch on how you would like to lead strategic change in your organisation. It will be an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the various concepts that have been considered during this course, as well as:
- Identify the styles of sustainable business management and leadership best suited to you and your enterprise;
- evaluate how you plan to change your personal leadership style to ensure your business is sustainable; and
- learn about stakeholders of different organisations, understand their intentions and formulate a strategy for engagement.
Enrol on the course today
Learning outcomes
During this Future of Sustainable Business course, students will:
- understand the nature, trajectories and basic scientific principles of the net zero and sustainable development challenge (NZSD);
- identify the broad range of socio-technical drivers that can accelerate progress to NZSD;
- examine the role of enterprise and its relationship to environmental and development challenges across a range of risks, technological innovations, investment opportunities and policy responses;
- learn about the expectations for sustainable businesses of the future and understand the enablers of these changes;
- develop confidence in your ability to communicate about net zero and the business and sustainable development goals; and
- explore the opportunities and skills necessary to develop sustainability leadership for yourself and/or your organisation.
Certificates
On successful completion of this course, you’ll receive a certificate from the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford.
You will also receive a digital badge, awarded by the Smith School. Digital badges are certifications that can be easily shared online — for example, on LinkedIn, in your email signature, or on a personal website. The badge is a visual representation of your skills and achievements, making it easier for employers and clients to verify your competencies.
Because this course is certified by CPD UK, you can also request a CPD certificate, using your Smith School certificate as proof of eligibility. (The course has an estimated 40 hours of learning, equating to 40 CPD points.)
Please note, the onus is on students to request their CPD certificate at the end of their studies. The University and its partners accept no responsibility, and cannot be held responsible, for the claiming or validation of hours or points.
Learning experience
This course, including all activities and assessments, will be delivered flexibly and entirely online without any need to come to the university.
In addition to learning from our expert, world-leading academics, you will also benefit from a Facilitator who will provide academic guidance throughout your learning journey – from beginning to end. The Facilitator will be present during weekly discussions and provide guidance and feedback on project tasks and assessments.
We would recommend on average 3-5 hours of study per week. This may vary by individual and topic.
Academic expertise
Dr Caitlin McElroy
Co-lead academic, Future of Sustainable Business
Dr Caitlin McElroy is a Departmental Research lecturer in Enterprise and the Environment at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment (SSEE) and the School of Geography and the Environment. Her research addresses improving the sustainability and development of resource driven economies, advancing the circular economy of mineral resources, and the complicated relationships between finance, equality, and environmental services (cooling and water) in developed and developing economies. Caitlin is an economic geographer and her research has engaged with institutional theory, financial geography, science and technology studies, and environmental justice. Current research includes leading on Circular Resourcing, a related circular economy focused workstream as part of the Future of Cooling course, and ongoing research on Sharing Resource Prosperity. She is also involved in partnerships to create tools to assist corporations, governments, and investors in the management of their environmental and social risks and opportunities such as with DAMSAT, a satellite-based dam monitoring project funded by the UK Space Agency. Support for her research has also come from the Oxford Martin School, The John Fell Fund, and as part of UpGro (NERC/ESRC/DFID).
Caitlin holds a BA (with Honours) from the University of Pennsylvania in History and Environmental Studies, an MSc in Nature, Society and Environmental Policy (with Distinction) and a DPhil in economic geography (Clarendon Scholar), both from the University of Oxford.
Dr Laurence Wainwright
Co-lead academic, Future of Sustainable Business
Dr Laurence Wainwright is Course Director of the MSc in Sustainability, Enterprise and the Environment and a Departmental Lecturer. A teaching and learning oriented academic, Laurence has a decade of experience in lecturing, facilitation and supervision across universities in Australia, Sweden and the United States and United Kingdom. Laurence is passionate about the holistic development of the students who he teaches and helping them to develop into well-rounded individuals with a mindset of intellectual curiosity and courage, continuous self-improvement, and service to a mission beyond themselves. He has received several prizes and citations for his teaching, as well as appearing on lists recognising high scores in student feedback surveys.
Laurence completed his doctoral studies in Business Administration at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Laurence’s PhD thesis used the contextual domain of the Swedish fishing industry in order to consider how contests to organizational legitimacy manifest around sustainability debates. Eighteen months of this course was spent at the University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business, and an additional six months across multiple universities in China, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands.
Laurence also holds a Master of Science in Sustainable Development from Uppsala University, a Master of Education from the Queensland University of Technology, and a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, Bachelor of Accounting and Bachelor of Business (Honours) from the University of Technology Sydney.
Frequently asked questions
This course is for you are looking for sustainability training and new tools and insights to help you perform better in your role, to encourage best practice in your organisation and/or to simply gain a better understanding of these pressing issues in a business context. This course would suit solutions-led professionals working in business, including:
- those at entry-level who want to build their sustainability knowledge;
- middle managers who need to encourage sustainable practices in their team; and
- senior leaders who are fluent in many different industry issues but need to refine their expertise in this area to help drive the transition towards a cleaner, fairer and more prosperous future.
Fees and funding
The total cost of this short course is £1,800 (inclusive of VAT), with discounts available to Oxford University alumni and those working in a public sector role (evidence is required).
It is possible to pay your fees in two instalments, laying down a deposit (and reserving a space) before settling the final balance and securing your place on the course ahead of its start.
For more information about our deposit scheme or discounts you may be entitled to, please feel free to call us on +44 (0)1865 692 268 or email us.
Duration:
Eight weeks (3-5 hours of study per week recommended)
Intakes:
February, May, August, October
Next start date:
31 January 2026
Fees:
£1,800 (including VAT)*
*Discounts are available to alumni, those working in the public sector and certain geographical regions. Register your interest to learn more.
Type:
Online short course
Award:
Certificate of completion
