During the COP28 session on 5 December, each Middle East institution demonstrated their commitment to climate leadership. In attendance for Oxford Saïd, an inaugural member of the BS4CL community, was British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Fellow Abrar Chaudhury, who spoke about the importance of the development of the Middle-East cluster.
He said: ‘Education and knowledge sit at the heart of solving the climate crisis, so it was both heartening and inspiring to welcome eight business schools from across the Middle East into the BS4CL family. Hearing how they are integrating climate into their curriculum should give us all hope for future. With landmark finance commitments made at COP28, the next crucial step is cultivating the next generation of leaders and change makers, to turn those pledges into tangible action. With so many of those future leaders passing through the classrooms of business schools across the world, our growing BS4CL network, which now sits across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, has a fundamental role in helping save our planet from the catastrophes of climate change.’
Dr Yaprak Anadol, Chair PRME Chapter Middle East, UN Global Compact initiative, added: 'As signatories of the PRME Middle East, we're excited to share the legacy of BS4CL with its third edition in the Middle East. With substantial support from accreditation bodies, educational mentors, and forward-thinking business leaders, we're creating an impactful change. Our goal is to collectively adopt and implement the Carbon Literacy programme and to equip our faculty, students, and the broader business community with in-depth carbon literacy training. This is not just about an inspirational dialog but rather the actions-based commitment to nurturing sustainable business practices to create a better future.'
The launch of BS4CL Middle East cluster aligns with the region's distinctive environmental and socio-economic landscapes. The Middle East faces unparalleled challenges exacerbated by climate change. These challenges include extreme temperatures, water scarcity, impacts on agriculture, and potential economic vulnerabilities, emphasizing the critical need for tailored solutions.
Also in attendance at COP28 was Juliane Reinecke, Professor of Management Studies at Oxford Saïd, who is one of three coordinators for the recently announced global PHD course on Organising the Climate Transition, which begins in January. The course is a collaborative effort led by expert faculty from within the BS4CL network and other leading scholars in the field of climate transition and management studies. The course will prepare the next generation of scholars to generate impactful, in-depth knowledge about, and approaches to, the challenges that organisations are currently facing as they navigate the climate transition.
BS4CL is a unique alliance of business academic thought leaders, created in November of 2021 by eight founding members: Oxford Saïd, Cambridge Judge Business School, HEC Paris, IE Business School, IESE Business School, INSEAD, International Institute for Management Development (IMD) and London Business School.
The partnering schools are driven by the urgent need to identify climate solutions that are practical, effective and timely. As proponents of change inspiring thought leadership in today’s business world, their goal is to accelerate the business community’s response to the climate crisis primarily through two strategies: shaping best practices through knowledge production in research and integrating the challenges of the climate crisis into executive training programmes.
