• Executive education

Executing Sustainability Strategies

Equipping leaders to move beyond compliance and translate sustainability ambitions into organisation-wide action — designing strategies that create lasting value, drive resilient growth and deliver meaningful impact.

Course key facts

  • Date

    16 - 20 November 2026

    24 - 28 May 2027

  • Duration

    5 days

  • Credits

    Non credit bearing

  • Format

    In-person

  • Fee

    £6,950

  • Location

    On Campus (South Kensington)

Overview

This executive programme sits within a wider set of sustainability management courses at Imperial and connects strategy execution with environmental management principles. The societal and environmental challenges in front of us are existential, and they demand stronger environmental management across organisations. Addressing them calls for a collective effort from all parts of society, including business. Sustainability is no longer an option; it is a requirement for every organisation on the planet to develop and execute sustainability strategies, supported by environmental management and clear governance. At the same time there are significant opportunities to develop businesses or propositions and improve the lives of customers, colleagues and across society.


Being sustainable in strategy, practice and impact requires going beyond compliance. It involves designing and implementing business sustainability strategies that create positive and tangible impact and value for your entire ecosystem of stakeholders, including environmental outcomes. 


This calls for a holistic and integrated approach that drives value and sustained growth; growth that meets the needs of today as well as those of tomorrow, grounded in practical knowledge. 


To move from sustainability strategies to holistic and cost-effective action plans, organisations need new processes underpinned by systems thinking, a reined organisational purpose, structural changes, and the systemic controls to align and inspire your team. This programme will provide the tools to protect your sustainability action plan from the perils and pitfalls that lie ahead, and help you build practical skills you can use in your role. Some challenges are common to all strategic initiatives – others deeply specific to executing sustainability strategies. 


The programme gives you the depth, time and space you need to refine and implement your sustainability strategy, with continuous, follow-through support and guidance from the Imperial ecosystem of world experts in sustainability and leadership.

Learning journey

The execution of your strategy is planned with continuous support as you discover and apply new ideas, build skills, and strengthen professional judgement. Before joining us on campus, you are guided to reflect on what section of your sustainability strategy you will use the week to reflect and develop on. During the programme, you will join your peers to work on the execution of your upgraded strategy plan. Once back to your organisation, you start the execution of your strategy, building on the action plans developed. During this phase, you continue to be supported with a live online touchpoint and opportunities to measure the impact and initial results of the deployment of your strategic plan, share information, and learn from the rest of the cohort.

Broaden the vision

Participants begin by broadening their understanding of what it takes to execute sustainability strategies successfully. The day moves beyond individual sustainability initiatives to consider how organisations can create systemic impact while generating business and stakeholder value. Participants explore different levels of business impact maturity, examine how sustainability actions can create synergies between impact and profit, and consider how value can be created and monetised across value chains and wider ecosystems. Practitioner perspectives bring these challenges to life, highlighting the realities of translating sustainability ambition into execution. The day also considers the leadership mindset required for lasting change, using reflection and meditation to explore self-awareness, purpose, long-term thinking, and resilience. 

 

Key themes

  • Strategic execution for systemic impact 
  • Business impact maturity 
  • Impact and profit synergies 
  •  Impact monetisation and value-chain innovation 
  • Sustainability leadership mindset

Executing Sustainability Strategies | Programme Outline

Dr Frank Brueck, Head of the Leadership Lab at the Leonardo Centre on Business for Society, outlines how the programme gives participants exposure to experts and mentors that will guide them through strategy design and implementation.

Course details

Participant share their experience

What participants say

It's a rare privilege to be able to sit down with fellow sustainability professionals and challenge yourself, ask questions and see what they would do in your position, and it helped me build practical skills. Kate Wright Group Sustainability Director

Course instructors

Livio Scalvini

Executive Director of the Leonardo Centre on Business for Society

With 25 years of international experience in sustainability, entrepreneurship, innovation, social impact, venture and corporate venture capital, strategy, marketing, and investment banking, Livio Scalvini is Executive Director of the Leonardo Centre on Business for Society. He is also cofounder of the GOLDEN for Impact Foundation and CEO of the GOLDEN for Impact Benefit Corp. He holds a degree in economics and business administration, and a Master's degree in macroeconomics and international finance from Universita degli Studi di Torino. Livio has held managerial positions and helped accelerate 1200 startups, advised large corporations on open innovation and stakeholder integration, and built tech-matchmaking platforms for more than ten thousand SMEs.

Gbemi Oluleye

Associate Professor in Sustainable Market Mechanisms at the Grantham Institute

Dr. Gbemi Oluleye is Associate Professor in Sustainable Market Mechanisms at the Grantham Institute, Imperial College London (University). She heads the Market Interventions for Deep Decarbonisation Lab. With over 15 years’ consultancy experience, she has advised global clients including the World Bank, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Schneider Electric, Scottish Power, BP, Skydiamond and the OECD, bringing professional experience. Her work equips financial institutions, and corporates to manage climate risk, understand carbon markets, and carbon-linked market mechanisms, assess carbon value at risk, and guide investment decisions in climate mitigation, sharing practical information. She also supports organisations in accelerating clean technology uptake and aligning transition strategies with long-term competitiveness.

Ed Daniels

Chief Technical Officer

Ed is the CEO of Venterra, a service company offering a full range of support to the offshore wind industry globally. Ed was formerly the Strategy, Sustainability and Corporate Relations Director for Shell Plc. In this role Ed was a member of Shell’s Executive Committee and had accountability for the company’s existing Strategy, Sustainability and Corporate Relations organisations. Ed has worked in the energy industry for over 35 years, living and working in the UK, the Netherlands, Singapore and the USA. A British national, Ed grew up in Wales and is married with three daughters. Ed has served as the Technical Vice President for the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and is a Fellow at both the IChemE and the UK Royal Academy of Engineering and has an honorary doctorate from his alma mater Imperial College London.

Maurizio Zollo

Scientific Director of the Leonardo Centre on Business for Society

Maurizio is Professor of Strategy & Sustainability at Imperial College Business School. Maurizio is the author of over 60 publications in leading academic journals in management, strategy, organization, innovation, neuroscience, and cross-disciplinary science. A past President of the European Academy of Management, he was also past Editor-in-Chief of Organization & Environment and of the European Management Review. Prior to his academic career, he was a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Co. and an investment banker at Merrill Lynch in New York. The Leonardo Centre, founded by Professor Zollo, develops and tests innovative business and organisational approaches that create both commercial value and positive systemic impact, through collaboration with leading academic institutions, businesses, the World Bank, IFC, and UN agencies.

Eduardo Andrade

Professor of Marketing

Eduardo is a Professor of Marketing at Imperial Business School (University) and the Academic Director of the MSc Programme on Climate Change, Management & Finance. As a behavioural researcher, he is interested in how individuals feel, think and make decisions in contexts related to sustainable consumption, inequality, and health. His articles have appeared in marketing (Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Marketing Research), medicine/public health (Lancet, Public Health Nutrition, Preventive Medicine, JAMA Network Open), and psychology journals (Psychological Science, Nature Human Behaviour), among others.

Frank Brueck

Leadership Lab Lead

Frank Brueck has more than 25 years of experience as a consultant, trainer, lecturer and researcher in the fields of CSR and sustainability, cultural change, cross-cultural management, team building and leadership development, delivering professional training. Frank cofounded the GOLDEN for Impact Foundation and is a founding member of the International Association for Cross-cultural Competence and Management. His research focuses on the methodologies of CSR, cultural comparison, value-based management, sustainability and intercultural management and training. Frank holds a PhD in Business Administration from the Vienna University of Economics and Business in Austria, reflecting academic expertise.

Superna Khosla

Global Director for Reporting Strategy and Sustainability Measurement

Superna is PwC’s Global Director for Reporting Strategy and Sustainability measurement, bringing professional experience and Environmental Management perspective. With over 15 years’ experience in sustainability reporting strategies, she focuses on unlocking business value from reporting requirements and emerging measurement techniques including impact valuation. Her experience includes leading multi-disciplinary, global teams for new data solutions to embed sustainability reporting insights in a fast evolving regulatory environment, engaging with standard setters and running workshops on practical implementation challenges, sharing information that helps students. She started her career as a financial auditor at PwC UK, was Communications Director at HRH’s Accounting for Sustainability Project and was the Investor and Business Engagement Director at the International Integrated Reporting Council (now part of the IFRS’ International Sustainability Standards Board).

Paolo Taticchi

Visiting Professor in Strategy and Sustainability

Paolo Taticchi’s expertise lies in sustainability transformation, competitive strategy, consulting and the future of cities. Highly active in executive education, Paolo has trained thousands of managers and executives from Fortune Global 500 companies and has teaching experience in 14 countries, including at the top business schools in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. His research on corporate sustainability and performance measurement is internationally recognised. He has authored over 50 academic journal articles and edited and co-authored three books. Paolo is also a sought-after speaker, advisor and entrepreneur, with significant international consulting experience. Paolo's projects, quotes and opinions have been featured over 350 times across media outlets including The Financial Times, The Economist, and Forbes. He currently serves as one of the advisers of the Ministry for Ecological Transition in Italy.

Steven Jansen

Founder and CEO of Papio Consulting

Steven specialises in turning sustainability and digital strategies into practical, scalable business outcomes. With more than 18 years of global experience across the energy and industrial sectors, Steven has built a reputation for bridging the gap between strategic ambition and operational execution. Prior to founding Papio Consulting, Steven held senior leadership roles at Shell, leading large-scale digital transformation programs across LNG, upstream operations, and capital projects. His work has included designing and implementing global operating models, deploying digital twin capabilities, and embedding data governance and carbon management solutions across complex international portfolios. Combining strategic thinking with a pragmatic, execution-focused approach, he is passionate about helping organizations embed sustainable strategies into governance, processes, and culture to create long-term value and real-world impact.

Christiane Bode

Associate Professor of Strategy

Christiane Bode is an Associate Professor of Strategy. Her research explores how businesses can create social impact while strengthening organisational performance. Her work focuses on how employees drive corporate social engagement and how organisations can align these efforts with business success. More recently, she has examined non-market strategies in emerging markets, including how companies respond to India’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) legislation. Christiane has also developed several teaching cases which have been granted awards by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) and the OIKOS foundation. She serves on the editorial review board of Strategic Management Journal and Organization Science. Prior to joining Imperial, Christiane was an Assistant Professor of Strategy at Bocconi University. She holds a BA in Economics and Psychology from New York University (NYU), an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics (LSE) and PhD.

Contact us

Contact us if you want information on other sustainability courses, including postgraduate options, the University team can help you compare course format, module content, and assessment approach. 

José Rosário

Business Development Director – Open Programmes

Common questions

What are the key components of sustainability management courses?

Imperial's Executing Sustainability Strategies course covers designing integrated business sustainability strategies, moving beyond compliance to create stakeholder value, systems thinking, and building the structural changes and organisational alignment needed to execute a strategy. It combines case studies, Strategic Decision Mapping and Risks & Uncertainty Analysis over a 5-day on-campus programme.

How do these courses cater to working professionals?

These courses are designed to fit around your professional commitments through a three phase learning journey. You begin with short self paced online preparation before attending an intensive five day on campus experience. You then continue with a self paced online application phase, where you put your learning into practice at work while receiving ongoing support from your cohort. This structure means you only need to take one week away from your role for the on campus element.

What are the career benefits of enrolling in a sustainability management course?

You will leave with a concrete action plan for embedding sustainability strategy in your own organisation, plus a verified digital certificate, Associate Alumni status and access to Imperial's global learner network. This will position you as a ‘leader’ to take ownership of sustainability initiatives and demonstrate applied strategic capability to senior stakeholders.

What certifications can be obtained through these programs?

Executing Sustainability Strategies is non-credit bearing, awarding a verified digital certificate of completion rather than a formal qualification. Completion also grants Associate Alumni status, including LinkedIn alumni group access, invitations to Imperial events, and a 25% discount on future Lifelong Learning programmes.

How does Imperial ensure the relevance of their sustainability course?

Imperial's faculty combine world leading academic research with senior industry experience, including a former Shell Strategy & Sustainability Director and sustainability leaders from PwC and Ekimetrics. The course also incorporates live case studies and guest practitioners to connect theory with practice. Its three phase structure will require you to apply your learning to a real workplace initiative and report back on the outcomes.

Which programmes are best for building a sustainability business case?

Executing Sustainability Strategies is Imperial's most directly relevant course, using Strategic Decision Mapping and Risks & Uncertainty Analysis to help leaders build resilient, board-ready sustainability business cases. Responsible Leadership in a Complex World also covers the sustainability-versus-profitability tension for leaders working across ethics, AI and geopolitics.

How do Imperial's sustainability programmes vary across online vs on-campus?

Executing Sustainability Strategies is delivered primarily on campus at South Kensington over 5 days, framed by online self-paced learning and live virtual sessions before and after. There is currently no fully online version of this course; the on-campus week is where case study work, group exercises and faculty interaction take place.

Which UK Exec Ed options are more ESG transformation-focused?

UK business schools with dedicated ESG or sustainability strategy programmes include Imperial (Executing Sustainability Strategies), Saïd Business School Oxford, Cambridge Judge and LSE, each running short courses on sustainability leadership and transformation. Programmes vary in length and focus, so compare specific course content and faculty expertise before choosing.