A new Council of international experts will help drive accountability, innovation, and impact in ESCP’s sustainability strategy.
Building on its long-standing commitment to sustainability in business education, ESCP Business School has officially launched its new Sustainability Advisory Council. First announced in April 2025 at the ChangeNOW climate summit in Paris, the Council brings together 13 inspiring leaders from diverse backgrounds, including climate science, activism, public policy, finance, tech, civil society, and international development.
“Our goals with this Council are two-fold: Ensuring control and accountability of our strategy actions as well as fostering creativity, innovation and, ultimately, impact,” explains Prof. Gorgi Krlev, Associate Dean of Sustainability at ESCP Business School. “With the Council, we will harness the full breadth of environmental and social sustainability, benefiting enormously from these diverse, outside perspectives.”
Accountability, creativity and impact
The Council will help steer and inform ESCP’s sustainability strategy. Its main goals include:
- Shaping the future of business and society: Through targeted discussions, events or dialogues that will explore pressing questions like embedding sustainability in business education, reengineering current social and economic systems, or mobilising younger generations toward sustainable practices.
- Ensuring accountability and impact: Providing external oversight on ESCP’s sustainability strategy, ensuring alignment with long-term objectives, and driving measurable change.
- Creating a powerful platform for collective action: Collaborating on publications, thought pieces, and strategic initiatives, amplifying sustainability efforts in education, research, and industry.
The Members of ESCP’s Sustainability Advisory Council
The Council is presided over by Prof. Gorgi Krlev, with a mix of distinguished members that represent a broad spectrum of expertise and experience.
- Sheree Atcheson: Valtech Group Senior Vice President of Diversity & Inclusion
- Gunther Beger: Managing Director of the Directorate for SDG Innovation and Economic Transformation, UN Industrial Development Organization
- Nisreen Elsaim: Former Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change
- Nicolas Froissard: Director, Sauvegarde de l’Adolescence à Paris
- Sophie Graham: IFS Chief Sustainability Officer
- Tatjana Kiel: CEO, Klitschko Ventures & We Are All Ukrainians
- Romain Mouton: Founder and President, Le Cercle de Giverny
- Emmanuel Normant: Vice President Sustainable Development, Saint-Gobain
- Daniel Nowack: Head of Social Innovation, World Economic Forum
- Hans Stegeman: Chief Economist, Triodos Bank
- Alison Taylor: Professor, NYU Stern School of Business, & author of Higher Ground
- Éliane Ubalijoro: CEO, Centre for Intern, Forestry Research
- Diana Ürge-Vorsatz: Vice Chair, IPCC
A shared commitment to rethinking business education
The members of the Council bring a wealth of diverse perspectives that will strengthen ESCP’s ability to link academia, policy, and practice.
"I think it's a bold move for a business school to open up to people who are not business-oriented, nor academic-oriented,” says Nisreen Elsaim, Member of the ESCP Advisory Council and Former Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change. “It's getting more and more common right now to have people from totally different backgrounds because you can never see the bigger picture until you speak with people who see it from a different angle."
“It really means that we get the chance to influence how ESCP is integrating sustainability into its curriculum but also how sustainability is seen amongst the future leaders of our businesses and society,” says Daniel Nowack, Member of the ESCP Advisory Council & Head of Social Innovation, World Economic Forum.
“To have an outside view for a business school on what sustainability means—what it means for business, what it means in practice—really helps the quality of education,” says Hans Stegeman, Member of the ESCP Advisory Council & Chief Economist at Triodos Bank.
Sustainability at the core of business education
The Council is the latest expression of ESCP’s long-term sustainability strategy. For several decades, the School has worked towards a more sustainable approach, focusing on advancing curriculum transformation, reducing ESCP’s carbon footprint, and bolstering sustainable, inclusive governance.
In line with its Bold & United strategy, ESCP is ensuring that technological progress serves people and the planet. By incorporating AI tools across research, teaching and institutional practices, ESCP empowers its students, faculty and staff to drive sustainable transformation and navigate the ethical, environmental and societal challenges of our time.
In research, the ESCP Sustainability Institute is fostering innovative transfer of research and education into practice, shaping insights that inform policy and business leaders. It works closely with the ESCP Research Centre on Environmental and Societal Transitions (RESET), which addresses some of the most urgent challenges of our time, advancing interdisciplinary research on topics ranging from corporate sustainability models to the future of growth within planetary boundaries.
ESCP integrates environmental and social sustainability across all its programmes, with 100% of students receiving training in sustainability. By bridging research, education and real-world impact, ESCP strives to create a viable, carbon-neutral and fairer economy and society.
Sustainability should not be an add-on. It should be the core through which we teach finance, marketing, or economics. We are committed to shaping leaders who see sustainable, inclusive business not as an option, but as the standard.

Associate Dean and Professor of Sustainability at ESCP Business School
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