As public, private and community leaders gather for Climate Week NYC, this edition of Ideas Worth Teaching highlights the promise of sustainability.

“... here’s the good news, the sustainability revolution is the single biggest business opportunity in the history of the world.” Are we ready to act on it? (also see The Case for Hope on Climate Change From an IPCC Scientist, What I Saw as the Country’s First National Climate Adviser and What a Dinosaur Can Teach the Media This Climate Week)

Why are these experts arguing that it’s time “to resituate the role of ESG and stakeholder governance within the well-established legal framework of corporate fiduciary duties”? (also see How ESG Investing Got Tangled Up in America’s Culture Wars)

How can thought leaders “emphasize hope without sugarcoating the crisis”? (also see Why Do We Always Focus on the Bad Stuff?)

How will the apparently staid industry of insurance help radically reinvent the future?

“The strategic context of business is the chief executive’s lane.” How can business leaders navigate society’s evolving demands? (also see These CEOs Bet Billions on Seemingly Unrealistic Sustainability Projects–and Won and Larry Fink at BlackRock: Linking Purpose to Profit)

“Whether we’re teaching finance or supply chain management, we can pose simple questions about what is important to us as a society. Do we want cheaper electricity or cleaner energy sources? Do we want to rely on public transportation schedules or have the convenience of driving our own vehicles? Can we switch to driving more fuel-efficient cars?” (also see Business Schools Teach ESG to Win Gen Z)

Ideas Worth Teaching is a tightly curated weekly email for business school faculty and others, helping to equip a new generation of leaders for the world's most pressing challenges. Visit our website to browse recent issues.

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