Spotlight on ESG compliance increases executive education demand

With an increasing demand for businesses to comply with sustainability requirements, Dr Phil Considine highlights the complexities for business and how this is leading to a demand for executive education.

With emerging EU regulations such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the UK TPT Disclosure Framework, the emergence of ESG ratings agencies and changing customer expectations, organisations are becoming increasingly concerned with how they will comply with new sustainability reporting requirements and new concepts such as “Environmental Impact”, “Social Impact” and "Double Materiality”.

This has made the role of directors and senior leaders in organisations - of all sizes and in all sectors - more complex than ever, with a fiduciary duty to understand and implement ESG regulations and standards. As sustainability guidelines continue to evolve globally, businesses and investors are challenged to incorporate these standards into financial and non-financial strategies that can drive positive societal impact or at least minimise harm. This has led to an understandable explosion in the requests for ESG programmes driven by several factors.

Reports from major consultancies - such as KPMG and McKinsey & Company - indicate that executives and business leaders are increasingly prioritising ESG knowledge as essential to navigate shifting expectations from investors, regulators, and consumers. Research by Deloitte and the World Economic Forum shows that ESG is a critical priority across industries, leading executives to seek education that equips them to drive sustainable value creation and mitigate risks tied to environmental and social factors.

McKinsey further highlighted that boards increasingly look for executives knowledgeable in ESG matters, both for risk management and for proactive strategy development. Regulations such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive or the UK Transition Plan Taskforce disclosures combined with investor and societal expectations are creating a need to accurately measure environmental impact whilst incorporating social impact factors. These range from those that are relatively easy to identify – such as compliance to equal opportunities legislation - to more complex challenges such as organisational culture, pay gaps and diversity. These shifts compel executives to understand ESG concepts and frameworks, making them a key topic for executive education, as organisations realise they lack the competencies to integrate them into strategic plans.

Institutional investors and asset managers are further pressuring companies to make ESG central to their strategies – so linking it to access to finance. KPMG identified that ESG considerations now directly impact M&A decisions and are a key factor in corporate valuations.

As a result of this, many top business schools have embedded ESG modules or dedicated programmes within their executive education portfolios. Programmes such as Oxford Said’s ESG Leadership Programme, Harvard’s Sustainability Leadership Programme, Wharton's ESG Initiative and the INSEAD Sustainability Leadership are popular. These programmes are often targeted at C-suite and senior leadership, underscoring the demand for ESG expertise at the highest levels of business.

Strathclyde plays a leading role in this movement and most of our senior leadership programmes offer modules that address investor expectations and help leaders understand how ESG can impact company performance, valuation, and long-term resilience.

We are further delighted to report that the Financial Times has ranked us as the Number 1 Business School in the world for the integration of ESG into our Executive Education – reflecting our expertise and commitment to helping organisations to navigate this most complex of topics.

For more information on how Strathclyde Business School can help your organisation navigate the complexities of ESG please contact Dr Phil Considine, Director of Executive Development, Strathclyde Executive Education Development (SEED) by emailing exec.education@strath.ac.uk

About Phil Considine

Dr Phil Considine is Director of Executive Education at Strathclyde Executive Education and Development