Sustainable Development

The past six years have seen an exponential leap in student engagement well beyond the classroom. Arguably, this came to public attention in 2018 when HEC students joined representatives from France's most prestigious schools and universities in calling for radical change, called the "Manifeste étudiant pour un réveil écologique" (student manifesto for an ecological awakening). So far, it has been signed by over 34,000 students. Then there was Anne-Fleur Goll's June 2022 commencement speech that concluded with a plea to tackle climate change from within the system. This drew a standing ovation and created quite a media stir. Valentine Japiot (H.23) and Max Pernaton (H.25), two members of HEC Transition, the alumni club dedicated to the ecological transition, rang similar alarm bells, calling for radical transformation of the system at HEC's Climate Day 2023. Quentin Oulie (H.25), currently interning at “Fermes d'avenir”, which coordinates sustainable farms, co-organized a 3-week course on agro-ecology at HEC for students to think about the challenges facing the agricultural world. The list could go on and on. Those engaged are making their demands heard, and they are ready to take on responsibilities to make things happen. We met four students from different HEC programs, engaged or not in the transition.

The Mazars “Purposeful Governance” Chair is the new chair of the S&O Institute’s Purpose Center. Thanks to the engagement of researchers and professionals, Mazars, an international leader in consulting and audit, aims to redefine legal, strategic, financial, accounting, and governance decisions to face ecological and social challenges. Luc Paugam, Associate Professor in Accounting and Management Control, holds the chair and collaborates with Mazars to advance transformative business models. We interviewed Luc Paugam and Maximilien Rouer, Partner Sustainability leader at Mazars, to gain insight into their joint projects and collaborative efforts.

We interviewed donors of the HEC Foundation to understand their vision of the role of businesses and purpose in the sustainable transition, and their personal motivations. All high-level decision-makers and HEC alumni, they donate to the Purpose Centre of the Sustainability & Organizations (S&O) Institute, along with dozens of individual donors, the Joly Family Chair in Purposeful Leadership* and the Mazars Chair on Purposeful Governance, to invest in research and teaching on the role of purpose in organizations. The Joly Family Chair was jointly created in 2018 by Hubert Joly, former Best Buy chairperson and CEO, now a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School.

A company that produces submarine electric cables and installs them between countries to electrify the world is under close scrutiny in a context of rising energy demand and the need to preserve natural resources. Yet, Nexans has emerged as a pure player in low-carbon electrification. In this interview, CEO Christopher Guérin discusses how his audacious approach saved the company and shares the essence of Nexans’ partnership with HEC Paris, with the Orchestrating Sustainable Business Transformation Chair, directed by Sebastian Becker, Associate Professor of Accounting and Management Control, under the S&O Climate & Earth Center.

How will the world look in ten or twenty years? How can we chart new paths to create value while preserving or even enhancing the balance of the Earth and human life conditions? What role can businesses play in shaping desirable futures? Established in 2009 as a pioneering entity within HEC Paris, the Sustainability & Organizations (S&O) Institute is an interdisciplinary institute fostering a community of researchers, business leaders, organizations, and individuals deeply committed to serving human and planetary well-being. Thoughtful reflection, innovative experimentation, multi-stakeholder dialogue, and evolving pedagogy are at the core of our approach.

Organizations which are driven by purpose only succeed when this purpose aligns itself authentically with operations and strategy. And company leaders who coordinate teams or orient decisions play a crucial role: they are responsible for communicating clearly and unambivalently the firm’s purpose. This is at the heart of the research program crafted by the HEC Paris Purpose Center, as well as the article published in the HBR* by professors of strategy Rodolphe Durand and Ioannis Ioannou. Durand, the Director of HEC’s Purpose Center, shares his analysis in this February 15 masterclass. Here are his four key points.

A new business case, “Circular magic? carpets reborn at Desso”, authored by Professors Laurence Lehmann-Ortega and Hélène Musikas of HEC Paris and Ghali Benkirane (H2023) has just been published with the Case Centre. 

In October 2020, François Collin, HEC alumni (H.1987), accepted to become the school’s Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), a role he helped design, after working for the Executive Education, and directing the CEMS alliance and International Affairs at HEC Paris. He also created the Climate & Earth Center of HEC’s S&O Institute. As the CSO, he explains his role in involving the HEC community at large in the school’s transition to sustainability.

How to improve and digitalize carbon accounting at the service of a decarbonization strategy? A new business case on carbon accounting by Associate Professor of Accounting and Management Control Hélène Löning and graduate Floriane Desbordes of HEC Paris, co-authored by Jean-Pierre Francisco from Colas company, has been published on the Case Centre platform. This two-part business case intends to stimulate a discussion on the forthcoming regulation on carbon reporting, and discusses the carbon accounting practices of Colas, builder of large infrastructure projects.