At a time of indisputable societal and environmental change, Stern MBA students specializing in Sustainable Business and Innovation will examine the unique role of the private sector and gain a broad understanding of how embedding sustainability into core business strategy benefits financial performance and management practices. To learn more about the Specialization and its course requirements, click here.

To assist MBA students as they design their schedules, CSB has assembled the following list of Sustainable Business and Innovation courses offered in the upcoming Fall 2025 semester. 

BSPA-GB.2305: Sustainability for Competitive Advantage

Professor Taylor | TR 3:00 PM - 4:20 PM | In-Person

Professor Taylor | T 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM | Online

In this course, students will develop an effective leadership perspective through pursuit of the following learning objectives: 1) to become familiar with the key environmental and social issues affecting business today, 2) to understand the evolution of corporate response - from compliance to engagement to innovation, 3) to begin to develop some of the skills required for leading in this new social and political environment (e.g. multi-stakeholder management), 4) to explore the efficiencies and innovations being developed by corporate leaders in pursuit of sustainability, 5) to explore innovations in finance (true cost accounting, net positive value, social impact bonds), and 6) to become familiar with the latest consumer insight research on sustainability. In short, this course is multi-disciplinary, and seeks to integrate across the functions of the firm to arrive at an effective firm-wide leadership sensibility.

BSPA-GB.2306: Social Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Food Business

Professor Taparia | R 9:00 AM - 11:50 AM | In-Person

For many years, a poor diet has been the leading cause of mortality in the U.S. The  pandemic proved a calamitous amplifier—obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, largely a  result of a poor diet, became the leading comorbidity factors in Covid19 related deaths as  well. The food industry is also now the largest source of emissions in the world, accounting  for one-third of greenhouse gasses produced. Monopoly and monopsony conditions in the  food industry have also made for limited consumer choice, pervasive farmer poverty and  fragile supply chains. During the pandemic, this led to the ultimate paradox of produce  rotting on farms and livestock being put to death prematurely, while millions went hungry.  Food is vital to our survival, our sense of community and happiness, but the food industry has become the cause of many pernicious negative externalities with costly outcomes. This  course is designed to put the idea of teaching social entrepreneurship to its ultimate test,  with a focus on identifying and reversing negative externalities caused by the food industry through entrepreneurship. In other words, the objective in this course is to develop a food  venture that has the potential to be a viable business and positively impact public health and/or environmental outcomes.  

BSPA-GB 2308 Driving Market Solutions for Clean Energy

Professors Gowrishankar & Berlin | M 7.00 PM - 9.00 PM | Online

This course is designed to provide students with a rich understanding of the economy-wide energy transitions that are needed in the United States to help curb climate change, with an emphasis on how the private sector can drive such changes. As relevant background, the course will cover energy-related macroeconomic concepts and trends, and provide environmental and international context. It will draw on the instructor’s diverse experiences, readings and other media, classroom discussions, case studies, visiting speakers, and group projects, to explore and debate how such ambitious but necessary transformations may be brought about.

BSPA-GB.2310 Sustainability Consulting: Using ROSI to Drive the Business Case

Professor Rosenthal | W 1.30 PM - 4.20 PM | In-person

This course is designed to assist students in developing the knowledge, skills, and perspective they need to assess and calculate the financial benefits of company investments in sustainability initiatives solely using the NYU Stern CSB Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI) methodology, and to deepen the knowledge through hands-on consulting with a business determining the financial benefits of one of their investments in sustainability initiatives. Sustainability creates enterprise value, and in this course, students will develop an effective sustainability leadership perspective through pursuit of the following learning objectives: 1) to understand and use the ROSI Framework and Methodology, including identifying key sustainability risks and opportunities and the associated benefits, 2) to identify key financial benefits for sustainability practices across the framework's nine value drivers, 3) to understand how to work with companies in a consulting capacity using ROSI to determine the financial benefits of that company's investment in a sustainability initiative 4) to develop and present an internal business case for sustainability to a client. Student group projects will enable them to act as management consultants and provide recommendations for developing and implementing a sustainability business case using ROSI for the company that they are paired with. The format of the course is a combination of lecture and experiential learning, Students will work with advisors and pre-selected companies on defining and monetizing the returns on specific sustainability initiatives of the client companies. Class sessions will span a variety of activities, including guest lecturers from the business community, discussion, role-playing, and other participatory exercises, as well as work on the projects with the clients.

BSPA-GB 3305 Global Markets, Human Rights, and the Press

Professor Posner | MW 9.00 AM - 10.20 PM | In-Person

This course will explore some of the choices global businesses face when trying to incorporate human rights values into their core business decisions and operations and the risks they take when they fail to take these issues into account. We will be especially focused on the challenges raised by accelerating globalization and advances in information technology in recent years, and will rely on a series of case studies to illustrate and analyze business decisions made in this context. Many of the issues we will examine have become more prominent in public discourse since the coronavirus.

BSPA-GB.3110 Work, Wisdom, and Happiness

Professor Haidt | T 9.00 AM - 11.50 PM | In-Person

Professor Dewji | R 6.00 PM - 9.00 PM | In-Person

For centuries, work was regarded as nothing but toil, a requirement for earning one's daily bread. But in recent decades, expectations about work have been transformed as has its very nature. While it still provides one's daily bread, it is also regarded as a major opportunity for people to find purpose, meaning, and happiness in their lives. In this course, students study the latest research on what makes people happy at work, on how happiness at work improves the quality of work, on how people and organizations develop wisdom, and on what makes a career not just successful but meaningful. We will also discuss some of the impediments both individual and organizational to doing meaningful and satisfying work. Students will develop their own visions of their ideal career, and of the ideal company they'd like to lead or work for.

FINC-GB 2360 Sustainable Finance: Innovation and Trends in Capital Markets

Professor Zazzara | R 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM | In-Person

The goal of the course is to analyze the interplay of Sustainability and Finance and the related new risks and opportunities. In fact, the intersection of ESG and Financial issues generates new risks over longer risk horizons, which should be factored into company valuation frameworks from fundamental analysis. However, understanding, measuring, and pricing these new sources of risk, and also assessing the related opportunities, presents challenges due to the wide breadth of ESG-related issues coupled with data limitations.

MGMT-GB 2100 Inclusive Leadership

Professors Weisberg & Rashid | M 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM | In-Person

In today’s rapidly changing global economy, companies with the best talent are at a competitive advantage and inclusive leadership skills are increasingly at a premium. This course will provide students with the skills and strategies to be inclusive leaders: to recognize their own agency to interrupt implicit bias, develop and support allies of diverse backgrounds, address microaggressions, and to leverage the talent on their teams to achieve business outcomes. Students will be able to utilize the lessons of the course in their own career decisions as well as when managing, being managed by, or collaborating with others. The course is highly interactive so that students can learn from each other as well as guest speakers such as the former CEO of Jamba Juice and author of Anti-Racist Leadership, the head of multicultural marketing at Johnson & Johnson, the Chief Impact Officer at Advantage Capital, and the Vice-Chairman of global capital markets at Morgan Stanley. Any student who wants to deliver better results through better people's decisions should take this class.

MKTG-GB.2323 Marketing and Sustainability

Professor Henze | M 1:30 PM - 4:20 PM | In-Person

Professor Kronthal-Sacco | W 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM | In-Person

This course aims to provide a broad range of tools and frameworks for understanding how businesses can interact with issues related to sustainability, taking a marketing perspective. In particular, we examine how traditional marketing strategies can be incorporated into and/or modified in domains in which sustainability is critical. By necessity, it is essential to not only account for the role of firms and customers, but of government, non-profit organizations, employees, and other stakeholders. This course will draw upon cases, guest speakers, academic and industry research, and recent articles and events. In addition, we will have two "live cases" presented by industry representatives. The final course deliverable will be a marketing plan focused on a firm strategy that can increase the sustainability of the firm's actions while also creating stakeholder value.