The annual Sustainability Career Boot Camp, hosted by the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, provides Stern undergraduate students with an intensive training program to prepare them for a variety of sustainability-oriented careers. In January 2025, we partnered with PwC for an engaging boot camp with a hands-on introduction to skills & internship opportunities in sustainability with a deep dive workshop on sustainability as a strategic imperative highlighting the key ESG concepts, frameworks and standards driving their work with clients.

To learn more about the boot camp, read Ziyue Wang's reflection below.

Ziyue Wang
BS '27
Concentration: Finance

The camp was an eye-opening experience that made me rethink how businesses approach sustainability—not just as a compliance checkbox but as a strategic necessity. One of the most interesting concepts I encountered was the Double Materiality Assessment (DMA). I had always thought of materiality in finance as "What affects the company?" but DMA flips the script by also asking, "How does the company affect the world?" This inside-out and outside-in approach adds a whole new layer of responsibility to corporate sustainability reporting.

It was fascinating to see how the CSRD framework forces companies to think beyond profits—like how their value chain impacts biodiversity or how climate risks could disrupt their own operations. Who knew sustainability reporting could feel like solving a giant puzzle? Overall, this boot camp got me thinking about sustainability careers in a new way—it's not just about being environmentally conscious, but about shaping the future of business itself.