BBS CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

The Centre aims to become a European benchmark in translating interdisciplinary and cutting edge research on ethics, responsibility and sustainability into management education programs and initiatives, thus providing a positive impact on business communities and society.

ABOUT

The Centre delivers management education programs and initiatives on sustainability, circular economy and social innovation, and supports companies in their sustainability transition process.

The Centre focuses on three main areas:

  • Learning: refers to the BBS educational activities on sustainability management and climate change.
  • Dissemination: highlights BBS’s commitment to promoting and disseminating its research on ethics, responsibility and sustainability among its students, the academic community, business partners, and society.
  • Impact: focuses on a set of initiatives that have a direct impact on BBS stakeholders and stimulate community outreach, both locally and globally.
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TEAM

Professors and researchers of the University of Bologna in partnership with Bologna Business School represent the backbone of the BBS Centre for Sustainability and Climate Change and are the main contributors of teaching activities and applied research.
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Matteo Mura

Director of BBS Centre for Sustainability and Climate Change and Professor of Management Engineering at the Department of Management, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna.

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Maria Alessandra Ancona

Assistant Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna.

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Carla Cacciotto

Assistant Professor in Infectious Diseases at the Departemet of Specialist, Diagnostic and Experimental Medicine, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna.

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Davide Donati

Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna.

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Eleonora Foschi

Assistant Professor at the Department of Business Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna.

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Riccardo Ghetti

Assistant Professor at the Departement of Legal Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna.

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Jelena Loncarski

Assistant Professor at the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna.

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Mariolina Longo

Associate Professor of Management Engineering at the Department of Management of the Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna.

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Toloue Miandar

Assistant Professor in Organization and Human Resource Management at the Departement of Management of the Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna and Bologna Business School.

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Salvatore Pascale

Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna.

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Alessandro Pastore

Executive Director of Executive Master in Sustainability Transition Management and Industry Leader of Global MBA in Green Energy and Sustainable Businesses.

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Sara Zanni

Assistant Professor at the Department of Business Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna.

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Andrea Zinzani

Assistant Professor at the Department of History Cultures Civilizations, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna.

Programs

Global MBA in
Green Energy and Sustainable Businesses
Full-time, English language
Master in Business Management
Green Management and Sustainable Businesses
Full-time, Italian language
Master in
Sustainability Transition Management
Part-time, Hybrid, English language
Executive Master in
Sustainability and Business Innovation
Part-time, week-end, English language
Executive Master in
Sustainability Transition Management
Part-time, Hybrid, English language
Open Program in
Business Sustainability and Circular Economy
Part-time, Italian language
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The Global MBA in Green Energy and Sustainable Businesses is aimed at young managers who are interested in the challenges imposed by climate change, and the principle on which to build the future of business.

Scientific Director
Alessandro Pastore

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The aim of the Green Management and Sustainable Businesses track of the Full-time Business Management Master’s Course is to lead companies in creating new business models, supported by a responsible use of resources.

Scientific Director
Angelo Manaresi

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The Master in Sustainability Transition Management, The Program is rooted in the Innovation framework, has the aim to equip participants with tools and knowledge to develop a professional career internationally in the global sustainability arena.

Scientific Director
Matteo Mura and Alessandro Pastore

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The Executive Master in Sustainability and Business Innovation was established to develop a new strategic vision and to provide skills and operational tools to those who manage sustainability, circular economy and social innovation processes.

Scientific Director
Matteo Mura

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The Executive Master in Sustainability Transition Management has the aim to equip executives with operational tools and strategic knowledge in order to develop their professional career internationally in the global sustainability arena.

Scientific Director
Matteo Mura and Alessandro Pastore

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Sustainability and circular economy are becoming fundamental pillars of the modern economic systems and they represent a development alternative to meet the global challenge of the depletion of natural resources.

Scientific Director
Matteo Mura

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1st

place in Europe for the university's commitment to sustainable development*

5

programmes specifically designed around sustainability, social innovation and enviromental responsability

10

years of experience in sustainability education

24

programmes integrated a course on Business Ethics and Sustainability

100%

of students are exposed to ERS issues during their studies

*The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, ed. 2020.

OBSERVATORY

The Centre has established the Observatory on Business Sustainability and it currently assesses 4,000 Italian companies against 67 sustainability metrics. Every month, the Observatory releases a report that describes the state of sustainable business across different industrial sectors. The data collected through the Observatory contribute towards advancing academic research on sustainability, circular economy and industrial transition; the data also support the dissemination of ERS principles across the BBS business community and society at large.

Approfondisci

Report 1

Discover the Report
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COLLABORATIONS

Italian and international institutions support the Centre in translating interdisciplinary and cutting-edge research on ethics, social responsibility and sustainability providing a positive impact on business communities and society.
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PRME - Principles for Responsible Management Education

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RRBM - Responsible Research for Business and Management

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United Nations Global Compact

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ASviS - Alleanza Italiana per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile

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Fondazione Sodalitas
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Forum per la Finanza Sostenibile
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Impronta Etica

PROJECTS AND INSIGHTS

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Re-inventing sustainability

Matteo Mura, Scientific Director of the Sustainability Transition Management Master’s course at BBS, takes stock of the situation on businesses, innovation, resources, and sustainability.

Matteo Mura
November 6, 2020

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Mario Nicolas Mora, Global MBA in Green Energy and Sustainable Businesses

Mario Nicolas Mora
February 21, 2020

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The effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the sustainability and green energy sector

Reihaneh Eshraghi e Dana Medukhanova
July 28, 2020

Events

Talks and testimonials of BBS guests, who constantly inspire the Community through experiences and stories about Innovation and Sustainability.
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OPENING CEREMONY | CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

May 17, 2021
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Transition paths for carbon intensive regions

April 27, 2021
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Innovation Talks. Maria Paola Chiesi

December 15, 2020
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Innovation Talks. Valentina Marchesini

December 2, 2020
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Innovation Talks. Michela Milano

November 27, 2020
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Jill Morris #atBBS: the sustainability strategy of England

January 13, 2020
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Patrizia Grieco explains the role of ENEL in energy transition

June 22, 2021

CONTACTS

sustainabilitycentre@bbs.unibo.it

+39 051 2090104

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STRATEGY

LEARNING

Learning refers to core educational activities of BBS.

  • A course on Business Ethics and/or Business Sustainability has been included in 23 degree-awarding programs of the School since 2017 and, every year, 100% of our students are exposed to ERS topics during their time at BBS.
  • Adoption of the UN Sulitest (2018), an initiative set up by the United Nations to improve wider literacy on sustainability topics.
  • Five Masters of the school have been designed around sustainability transitions, social innovation and green energies: Global MBA in Green Energy and Sustainable Businesses, Executive Master in Sustainability and Business Innovation (2018), Green Management and Sustainable Businesses (2019), Master in Sustainability Transition Management – University degree and Executive (2020).
  • The syllabus of every course held at BBS matched up with at least three UN SDGs (2018).
  • One section in the customer satisfaction form that students have to complete at the end of each course assesses the degree to which each BBS course covers ERS topics.

DISSEMINATION

BBS is committed to promoting and disseminating the principles of ethics, responsibility and sustainability among its students, business partners and wider society.

  • BBS is a partner of the UN’s Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) network and is a founding member of the Italian Chapter of the network.
  • BBS participates in and contributes to RRBM – Responsible Research in Business and Management.
  • BBS is also a partner of the EIT Climate KIC network and participates actively in its events and initiatives.
  • In terms of applied research, BBS has launched the BBS Case Study Series, where 30% of cases include ERS-related topics.
  • The BBS Observatory on Sustainable Development issues a monthly report “The state of green business in Italy”, to inform management professionals and institutions.
  • BBS organises the Startup Ecosystem Day to encourage interaction between start-uppers and BBS students with the view of enhancing the Italian innovation ecosystem. A stream of this event focuses on business sustainability.
  • BBS releases articles on circular economy, business sustainability, social innovation and ethics through the School’s communication channels.
  • Additional actions: research papers being published in peer-reviewed journals, preparing positioning papers for practitioners and research reports for public sector institutions and governments, articles being published in leading Italian and international financial newspapers, holding innovation talks for the BBS community.

IMPACT

A set of initiatives and projects that BBS carries out to impact its major stakeholders, and attest that ethics, responsibility and sustainability are being implemented within BBS daily operations.

  • BBS React Innovation Programme: students, alumni and faculty offer free consultancy, project management work and networking services.
  • BBS Corporate Citizenship project: School encourages its faculty and staff to support some NGO in developing and expanding its impact on society and/or the environment.
  • In 2019, BBS awarded scholarships worth 1.6 million euros, honor loans worth 1.3 million euros and ten African Scholarships (full scholarship + living costs amounting to 10,000 €/each).
  • Gender Equality: BBS offers 25 scholarships for women wishing to take an Executive/Part-time MBA and so improve their career opportunities.
  • “Kids Bootcamp”, an initiative for the children of BBS community members.
  • BBS campus have been designed to comply with the highest energy-savings standards.
  • BBS Carbon Neutral Project, that sets BBS on the path to net-carbon neutrality by the end of 2022.
  • Recycling policy for paper, plastics and glass.
  • Illumination of the Campus run on LED technology in energy savings mode.
  • BBS vegetable garden (nearly 300 sqm), cultivated with permaculture principles.
  • Agreement with the Bologna public bus company (TPER) whereby to have our own bus line.
  • Partnership with the Italian water company Ferrarelle, the first in Italy to use R-PET (Recycled Plastic).
  • Partnership with WASP to 3D-print two houses out of mud and straw, located in the School’s grounds.
  • Partnership with Enel to install charging station for electric vehicles on the BBS Campus.
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Matteo Mura

Ph.D, is Associate Professor of Management Engineering at the Department of Management of the University of Bologna and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Business Performance of the Cranfield School of Management. He carries out research on topics of circular economy, sustainable industrial transition and measures of business performance. He is currently engaged in a European project aimed at decarbonising high-carbon European industrial sectors. He teaches Management Control Systems at the School of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Bologna.

Maria Alessandra Ancona

She graduated cum Laude in Energy Engineering in 2013 and obtained a PhD in Mechanics and Advanced Engineering Sciences (DIMSAI) at the University of Bologna in 2018. She carries out research on topics of energy systems and sustainability, smart energy networks, storage systems and renewable energies. She is currently involved in a European project aimed at decarbonizing gas turbines based systems thanks to the green hydrogen production and employment.

Carla Cacciotto

Biotechnologist, she worked in several research institutions and she is part of the Mediterranean Center for Disease Control. Her research is mainly addressed to the study of the pathogenic mechanisms of infectious diseases and the application of a One Health approach for pathogen surveillance programs, impacting veterinary and Public health, zoonosis, emerging and re-emerging animal and human diseases.

Davide Donati

Davide obtained a bachelor degree in Earth Sciences (2010) and a master degree in Engineering Geology and Land Management (2012) at the University of Bologna (Italy). After a two-years consulting experience in Italy, he pursued and obtained a PhD in remote sensing and rock mechanics at the Simon Fraser University (British Columbia). During his PhD and the following post-doctoral research career, he collaborated in various national and international research projects focused on the stability of stability and evolution of large landslides.

Eleonora Foschi

Eleonora Foschi is an environmental engineer with expertise in the field of circular and bio-economy. She got a PhD at the University of Bologna with a dissertation on System innovation and life cycle thinking in plastics value chain. During the post-doc at the Department of Management, she advanced the research on business models for the circular economy. She is involved in many EU projects and collaborates with a multitude of national and international public and private institutions.

Riccardo Ghetti

He graduated with honours from the University of Bologna (2009) and holds an LL.M. in International Commercial Law from King’s College London (2009). He gained his Ph.D. in Company Law and Financial Markets Regulation from the University of Bologna (2014), during which he spent a research semester at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences Library (2012).

He was Academic Visitor to the Faculty of Law of the University of Oxford with an MCR Fellowship from Jesus College (2016-2017), a Visiting Professor at the University of Haifa, Israel (2018) and a lecturer at the European Master’s in Law and Economics (2015-2018).

Riccardo’s research has been published in the foremost Italian and European law journals. His main areas of interests include directors’ duties, European company law, the regulation of financial advice and sustainable corporate governance.

He is admitted to the Italian Bar and worked for a top-tier law firm.

Jelena Loncarski

Jelena Loncarski received the Ph.D. degree from the Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering (DEI), University of Bologna, in 2014. In April 2014, she joined the Department of Engineering Sciences, Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, as a Postdoctoral Researcher, where she is now visiting researcher. She is currently a researcher with the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering, “Guglielmo Marconi”, University of Bologna.

Mariolina Longo

Her research focuses on the topics of Business Performance Measurement, Sustainable Industrial Transition and Circular Economy. She teaches Business Management at the School of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Bologna.

Toloue Miandar

Toloue Miandar is an assistant professor in Organization and HRM at the Department of Management of University of Bologna and Bologna Business School. Prior to this position she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Economics and Management of University of Padova and at the Politecnico di Milano School of Management. She received the PhD degree of Economic Sociology and Labour Studies from University of Milan. Her research interests are: Organizational Behavior, Corporate Sustainability, Sustainable Development and Supply Chain Sustainability. Prior to starting her academic career she had years of industry work experience.

Salvatore Pascale

He holds a M.Sc. in Physics from the University of Naples “Federico II” and a Ph.D. in Meteorology awarded by the University of Reading, UK. He was a research fellow at the California Institute of Technology with a NOAA Climate and Global Change Fellowship from 2015 to 2017, an associate research scholar at Princeton University and NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory from 2017 to 2019 and a research scientist at Stanford University from 2019 to 2021.  His research interests lie in understanding the impact of climate change and variability on the hydroclimate and extreme events.

Alessandro Pastore

CEO of Camfridge Ltd which aims to become the world-wide leader in high efficient gas-free refrigeration technology based on magnetic properties of solid state materials. Alessandro Pastore developed his professional carrier internationally having lived and worked in Italy, France, Brazil, Argentina, Germany and UK. Before co-founding Camfridge in 2005 he had been holding the position of Vice President at Siemens Communications for 7 years. He started his professional career at the Telecom Italia Research Lab formerly known as CSELT. Alessandro got a PhD in Automatic Control from Politecnico di Torino and an MBA from the Collège des Ingénieurs, Paris.

Sara Zanni

Researcher and practitioner in the field of sustainability assessment, Life Cycle Assessment, environmental risk assessment and remediation. She completed her PhD in Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering at DICAM, University of Bologna in 2017. She has been a Climate Kic Pioneer in 2015. She is currently Research Fellow Professor at the Department of Management of the University of Bologna, involved into several research projects, such as EIT Climate Kic Flagship “Re-Industrialise “and Sustainability Measurement and Management Laboratory “SuMM Lab”. She is faculty member for Part Time MBA, Hybrid MBA in Sustainability Transition Management and tutor in Executive Master in Sustainability and Business Innovation.

Andrea Zinzani

RTD-A in Geography at the Department of History, Cultures, Civilizations of the Alma Mater – University of Bologna and Honorary Researcher at the Institute of Global Development, University of Manchester. Ph.D in Human Geography (2014) at the Universities of Fribourg and Verona, he held post-doctoral fellowships at the CNRS in Paris (2015), at the Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Research in Bremen (2016), at the University of Manchester (2017) and at the University of Bologna (2018-2020).