The Master in Sustainability Transition Management aims to provide its participants with all the tools and skills to address the global challenges of ecological transition in order to develop a professional career in sustainability.
Five study programs on the transition to sustainability in industry, energy, urban systems, agriculture, and mobility provide a systemic vision to make a positive impact in business both economically, environmentally, and socially.
Part-time, hybrid (80% online, 20% in-person), 12-month, and English-language, the Master in Sustainability Transition Management is dedicated to an international core audience and allows students to follow a challenging and stimulating curriculum even remotely.
Bologna Business School‘s link with the University of Bologna, first for sustainability in Italy according to the QS Sustainability 2024 Ranking, guarantees those who attend this Master a top-level management education combined with the most advanced study of environmental and social sustainability topics.
On-campus classes will be held one week in April 2025 in Bologna and one week in October 2025 at the University of Galway, a partner of BBS and its global network of companies and institutions. A powerful network that will result in concrete career opportunities.
Young graduates with an excellent knowledge of English who want to acquire the skills needed to play an active role in the transition to sustainability, now the primary focus of all global companies.
The Master in Sustainability Transition Management combines management knowledge with the unique expertise of Bologna Business School, the first in Europe and among the first in the world to study transition practices to economic, environmental, and social sustainability.
The Master in Sustainability Transition Management is now available in executive format. This flexible program is perfect for working professionals seeking to develop advanced skills in sustainability management. It allows you to delve into sustainability transition challenges without putting your career on hold.
Find out more and apply here: Master Sustainability Transition Management (Executive) | BBS Italy
The international BBS network, supported by the work of the Career Service, a dedicated tool for students to decide together with them the steps they need to take to plan a brilliant career, and the final internship make students of the Master in Sustainability Transition Management able to aspire to roles such as ESG Manager, Sustainability Project Manager, Sustainability Consultant and many others into an interdisciplinary field that affects all businesses of the present and future.
Italy represents the right place to improve your skills on sustainability transition and develop a new mindset ready for the “new normal”.
Key facts:
• The University of Bologna ranks 1st in EU and 6th in the world in sustainability (FT Global Ranking 2020).
• Bologna will host the new European Weather Forecast Data Centre of the ECMRW
• Data science for sustainability represents a core capability of the Bologna business ecosystem
• Italy ranks 1st in EU with +25% growth rate of companies that implement sustainability practices and 2nd (after Luxembourg) in resource efficiency outcomes.
• The Italian energy giant Enel Green Power is one of the largest renewable-energy companies in the world, with 46 gigawatts of installed capacity.
• The clean technologies market in Italy is around 30 billion euros.
Accreditation
Bologna Business School is EQUIS – EFMD Quality Improvement System accredited, one of the most important international quality assessment and continuous improvement systems for Schools of Management and Business Administration.
Matteo Mura
" Our students will be equipped with all the tools necessary to make a difference in the sustainability arena. We are proud to train new leaders who take into account the importance of sustainability transition, renewable energies and the SDGs. Thanks to an international faculty and prestigious guests, participants will receive training with the right balance between theory and practice. "
GEOGRAPHICAL ORIGIN
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
The Master is a part-time hybrid program, structured in 270 teaching hours (80% online, and 20% in presence). Lessons will take place two evenings a week (i.e. Tuesday and Thursday. 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. CET) and few Saturday mornings during the year (10:00 a.m. – 1 p.m. CET). Each online session lasts about three hours and combines lectures, case discussions, team-working among participants and sustainability transition dialogues with though leaders in the field. Thanks to a smart formula, you will be able to combine work and private life while attending the Master.
The residential classes will take place one week on campus in April 2025 at Bologna Business School and one week in October 2025 at the University of Galway. During the residential classes, the participants will attend laboratories, Company visits, and events in collaboration with the business network.
During the on campus weeks, students will attend the following courses and laboratories:
The Master Kick Off will take place in December 2024, while the lessons will start in January 2025.
The course will provide an overview of critical global standards and frameworks regarding corporate sustainability
developed by the UN and EU – with particular focus on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the upcoming EU
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the SDGs). Additionally, students
will increase their awareness of key pressure points of corporate accountability: civil society, and investors — and how understanding
how by working with these key stakeholders, companies can become truly sustainable in the long term.
Human-caused climate change is one of the most serious issue of our time and it portends
unprecedented environmental changes for our societies and future generations. Terms like “global
warming”, “climate change” or “greenhouse effect” are nowadays commonly used by non-specialists,
although this is often done without a clear understanding of the science behind them. Understanding
the science of human-caused climate change is essential to understand the economic, political and
moral dimension of it, and ultimately to tackle it. The objective of this course is to explain the basics of
the climate change science in a concise yet rigorous way, providing the scientific knowledge which
underlies all aspect of the human-induced climate change problem.
The course “geohazard and sustainability” will focus on the importance of geohazard and risk management in sustainable development. The environmental factors controlling and promoting the occurrence of a variety of natural events (e.g., earthquakes, floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions, extreme climatic events) will be analyzed, and the impact of these events on the environment, society, and business will be discussed, also with the help of guest lecturers
from business, industry, and public institutions.
The objectives of the course are: i) to help the students understand the importance of identifying, assessing, and managing geohazards in pursuing the UN SDGs, ii) to provide the students with a basic background on the factors that control the occurrence of natural events and disasters, iii) to raise the attention to the potential effects that natural hazards may have on business and society, and iv) to highlight the long-term effects that human activity can have on the environment.
The course focuses on the geographies and geopolitics of climate and environmental change and the related socio-ecological and political challenges. It aims to provide an overview on the development of climate and environmental thought, politics and governance and it adopts geographical approaches to reflect on the key actors, processes and conflicts. These issue are analyzed at a global scale together with regional focus in the Global South especially in Central and Southeast Asia.
Zinzani AndreaThe new sustainable transformation global agenda calls for a transdisciplinaryand interdisciplinaryanalysis of society’s complexityand crises. Environmental Economics gain hence a central role focusing on governingeconomicactivity while promoting sustainability, justice and well-being. Focusing on shared prosperity, human centered development and circular economy international leading agendas define the road forward. The United Nations 2030 Agenda andthe SDGs act as roadmapfor sustainability transition and globallocal andbusiness level. A call for all stakeholders, to collaborate and cooperate defining the necessary solutions to thepressing problems of Climate and Water Crisis, Inequalities, andSocial Justiceand contributefor a sustainable and resilientfuture. This course aimsat converging different agendas and systemic thinking surroundingecologicaleconomics and analyze the contribution toward the SDGs and Sustainable Development. Furthermore,aiming developing a critical thinking toward identified problems and solutions. With a focuson the centralrole ofentrepreneurshipand businesssectoras a driver of innovation and change.
Arvaniti MariaThis course is premised on the notion that sustainability represents a fundamental paradox: at the current moment, sustainability presents itself as a goal that can only be achieved through a radical transformation of the ways that we relate to each other and the environment—sustainability is premised upon the unavoidability of transformation. The goal of this course is therefore not to import one or several ethical theories into the world of business and commerce in order to form moral judgments about business practices, or to train business leaders to be more efficient decision makers. Our task is to identify and navigate ethical dilemmas that arise when we entertain sustainability as a guiding principle for our individual, organizational, and global actions.
Valgenti RobertThe purpose of this module is to increase awareness of the role and functioning of modern corporations as sustainability challenges, opportunities, and solutions emerge. My objective is to enhance our collective awareness of the multiplicity of issues associated with sustainability and explore what all of this means for firms. Towards this end, I have outlined three facets of sustainability – adapting to new demands, dealing with multiple stakeholders and creating a temporal horizon– that can serve as the basis for deepening your understanding of issues connected with sustainability.
Esposito MarkOver the last decade sustainability, corporate social responsibility and stakeholder management practices have become paramount for companies as well as for the society at large. Although most companies have developed sustainability programs over the years, as they’re cutting carbon emissions, reducing waste, and otherwise enhancing operational efficiency, we are witnessing a mishmash of sustainability tactics that does not add up to a sustainable strategy. To endure, a sustainable strategy has to cope with the competing – and apparently divergent – interests of all stakeholders: investors, employees, customers, governments, NGOs, and society.
In this context corporate Performance Measurement Systems (PMS) play a key role as they help companies to formalize and implement their sustainable strategies as well as to proactively identify new trajectories that help companies to appropriately reconcile the trade-offs between different stakeholders’ wants and needs.
Canal Vieira Leticia
Overall aim of this course is to cover the most important aspects of value chain, including those aspects that concern interorganizational/supply chain or intraorganizational issues, e.g., sourcing and distribution, and to explain how sustainability-oriented innovation needs to be considered across all the aspects. Above all, instead of sustainability being treated separately, the intention in this course is that sustainability-oriented approach is considered in the context of each topic.
Miandar ToloueThe ultimate purpose of the course is to explore the many dimensions of new venture creation & growth in independent as well corporate settings looking at both process and people involved in assessing ideas, exploiting opportunities, and converting concepts into green and sustainable businesses that can really add up to a global sustainable strategy. The candidates will develop a methodological toolkit to design, understand, and evaluate green business projects. The capstone project for this course will require you to work as a team of consultants offering advice to a real-world green start-ups, using the tools you have accumulated in the course.
Giuliani Antonio PacoThe great social challenges of our time, incorporated into the 2030 agenda of the United Nations through the objectives of sustainable development and the crisis of modern capitalism based on maximum shareholder value, require a change of course in traditional business models and put the issue of corporate sustainability back at the centre. In this context, a new model of entrepreneurship is emerging where companies respond to social problems through new models, methods and products and services combining the objectives of economic and financial performance with the pursuit of a positive social impact. The module addresses the main concepts, approaches and practices to understand the main forms of social innovation and their impact on production and organisational processes and the effects on the reputation of enterprises.
Fia MagalìThe course will allow students to gain a solid and robust understanding of how institutional investors finance and invest in the renewable energy sector: how to assess the key commercial, legal, macro-economic and technological risks, what tools to use to mitigate them, and how to measure return on investment. Students will solve a real life business case where they will learn how to use a financial model that forecasts on a 20+ year horizon the profit & loss, balance sheet, cash-flow statement of a renewable energy company.
Vescovo ClaudioThe course highlights the risks of greenwashing and emphasizes the significance of ethical communication in sustainability matters. Students will learn to recognize and combat deceptive practices while promoting genuine and transparent sustainability efforts. The goal is to equip students with the skills needed to foster honest sustainability communication, ensuring a responsible corporate governance and avoiding reputational and legal risks.
Flamini ElisaMoving from linear to circular economy needs a complete rethinking of products, processes and supply chains. This transition calls for the adoption of an anticipatory approach based on which the life-span, the functions, and the generation of waste should be kept in mind in the design stage to identify and prevent potential impacts in each step of the value chain but also maximize, add and maintain value in the further loops. Despite the existence of waste management systems, materials are still a pervasive presence in the environment, with resulting social concerns. By reconnecting societal needs and environmental pressures with company value proposition, externalities can be reduced, and value can be shared. Circular economy is the way to embrace corporate responsibility: reuse, repair, refurbish, remanufacture and repurpose, over than recycling, are among the circular strategies that support organizations to address a socio-technical innovation and change the business models in a sustainable way.
Foschi EleonoraFaculty members at Bologna Business School work together offering outstanding teaching standards. An international and interdisciplinary approach is guaranteed by a joint team of distinguished national core professors, adjunct, visiting professors, guest speakers and top managers.
Maria Alessandra Ancona
Assistant Professor of Energy Systems and Power Generation
University of Bologna
Maria Arvaniti
Assistant Professor of Economics
University of Bologna
Leticia Canal Vieira
Adjunct Professor
University of Bologna
Davide Donati
Assistant Professor of Engineering Geology
University of Bologna
Mark Esposito
Visiting Professor of Strategy
Bologna Business School
Magalì Fia
Post-Doctoral Researcher
University of Bologna
Elisa Flamini
Sustainability Manager
Green Media Lab
Eleonora Foschi
Junior Assistant Professor of Business Administration and Accounting Studies
University of Bologna
Gardner Luzzatto Nina
Adjunct professor in the international law department
Johns Hopkins SAIS - Washington DC and Washington College of Law - American University
Antonio Paco Giuliani
Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship
IÉSEG - School Of Management
Toloue Miandar
Junior Assistant Professor of Organization and Human Resource Management
University of Bologna
Salvatore Pascale
Junior Assistant Professor of Physics of the Earth and of the Circumterrestrial Medium
University of Bologna
Robert Valgenti
Full Professor of Philosophy
Lebanon Valley College
Claudio Vescovo
Managing Director - Head of Credit Fund
Glennmont
Andrea Zinzani
Assistant Professor of Geographies of the Environment
University of Bologna
The integration with companies is a priority and an ever-present feature of all programs of the Bologna Business School, hence for the Master in Sustainability Transition Management.
The School is fully committed to creating employability, by way of a systematic career service action, constantly focused on matching at best the students’ professional projects with the needs companies have.
At the end of the didactic activities an internship or project work will allow participants to apply what they have learned and to use tools and competencies acquired.
The BBS Career Service assists and supports students since the very beginning, along a training and professional development path. This is accomplished by organizing a series of workshops, with the aim of providing the fundamental tools and resources to be appropriately prepared for the labor market.
In addition,thanks to the collaboration with professional career counselors, students receive a customized service, in order to understand their strengths and to build a professional development plan, which will turn out to be helpful when looking for an internship. Here follow some of the activities:
Virna Psarra – Greece
ESG Assistant, Gruppo Florence
Master in Sustainability Transition Management (A.Y.2020/2021)
"The Master in Sustainability Transition Management not only broadened my horizons by bringing me in contact with professors, guest speakers and fellow sustainability believers (in our class we love to call ourselves climate hooligans) that are committed to the sustainability vision, but also gave me the opportunity to shift my career by combining two things that I love & I am passionate for: sustainability & fashion. This master was by far the best choice I have made these last years."
Tommaso Bastardi – Italy
Packaging & Material Engineer, COESIA
Master in Sustainability Transition Management (A.Y.2020/2021)
"The Master in Sustainability Transition Management allowed me to get involved by expanding my points of view with a more complete view on things, also considering their economic, social and environmental aspects. Thanks to this Master and its format, I had the opportunity to meet many people from all over the world, sharing and discussing different themes, experiences and adventures. Sustainability also means improving, developing and innovating "
Letizia Benvenuti – Italy
Sustainability Strategy Consultant, Accenture
Master in Sustainability Transition Management (A.Y.2020/2021)
"During my master's degree, I became passionate about the opportunities that combine the technological innovation with sustainable development, to support transformation towards more sustainable industries and businesses. To face this great challenge, there is an enormous need for all-round knowledge and skills to guide small, medium and large enterprises towards a future development that considers the economic dimension, but also the social and environmental one. In the global context of the knowledge economy, the Master in Sustainability Transition Management represented for me a privileged opportunity to explore the world of sustainability and acquire fundamental skills to drive change, as well as support me in making sustainability the fulcrum of my work in the field of management consulting. "
Luca Ceroni – Italy
Sustainability Operations Project Specialist, Davines
Master in Sustainability Transition Management (A.Y.2020/2021)
"The Master in Sustainability Transition Management has literally changed my life. It was the tip of a personal path of approaching environmental issues that for some years were constantly strengthened: initially as simple interests, later as a desire to make them become an integral part of my professional career. This Master helped me to change my role within my company, moving into the field of environmental sustainability. Thanks to this path with the BBS I have not only acquired new skills and the possibility of looking at sustainability from new points of view, but I have also met a new family of people who transmitted to me the desire for a better future that I am sure it will help me to fight every day to convey this enthusiasm to the people around me"
Federico Duca – Italy
Project Development Manager, Aquila Clean Energy EMEA
Master in Sustainability Transition Management (A.Y.2020/2021)
"If we want our world to be more sustainable, we need to learn to integrate sustainability into every aspect of our career and private life. The Master in Sustainability Transition Management has provided me with transversal skills, able to integrate the business with every environmental, social and economic aspect, and it also gave me the opportunity to meet a class of unique people from all over the world. They made this master’s degree unique by making me grow in both professional and human side."
The contact with managers of important companies in their working environment represents a great networking and learning opportunity for the students of this Master. The company visits allow participants to meet managers and entrepreneurs on an experience of excellence in innovation management.
The tuition fees for the Master is 14,800 euro (VAT free) to be paid in three installments:
The fee includes participation in the Master, all the study material available through the online platform, and access to the services and facilities of Bologna Business School such as: personal account for the BBS wi-fi, access to the study areas, access to the on-campus gym, special rates for the School restaurant. Furthermore, the fee gives participants the right to take advantage of the supporting activities of the School, such as the master lectures by invitation.
Free parking is also available within BBS Campus.
At Bologna Business School we understand the importance of financial aid in supporting our students to achieve their educational goals. We are aware that an advanced, high quality training path can be a significant commitment, at the same time we also truly believe that investing in one’s future always pays back.
Bologna Business School is pleased to offer partial scholarships to the most meriting students. All of these scholarships are merit-based and will be awarded to the top-ranked candidates in the selection process. The students who come out on top in the selections will be students who not only come from strong academic or practical backgrounds but also those who display the strongest motivation to take part in this program.
There are scholarships of 6,000 euros and scholarships of 4,000 euros. All applicants will be considered for a scholarship – no specific application is required. They are awarded over the course of every round of selection and if you have performed well enough to merit one of them, you will be informed at the moment of admission.
The scholarships act as tuition waivers, so that they result in a deduction of the total amount of the tuition fees due.
The eligibility requirements include:
Admission to the program is subject to the positive assessment of your individual interview in English.
This Master is open to all applicants with a bachelor’s degree obtained before the enrolment deadline of each round.
Application steps:
The selection process will be held online. The selections for the first round will take place in on May 9th and 15th, 2024, the selections for the second round will take place on July 4th and 10th, 2024, the selections for the third round on September 19th and 25th, 2024, the selections for the fourth round on November 7th and 13th, 2024, and the selections for the fifth round on November 22nd and 25th.
In line with the number of available places, admission to the program is granted according to the position on the list of qualified candidates, drawn up on the basis of the total score awarded at the end of the admissions process.
For further information concerning the selection process and the related documents, we invite you to consult the Master details and download the documents that will be available shortly in this section.
Call for applications