How we work with sustainability
Sustainability is a key concept in all activities at NHH. Here you will find examples of how we work with the topic in research, teaching, dissemination, various collaborations and in the day-to-day running of the school.
NHH's strategy states that the school shall be a driving force for development of business and society and educate people for value creation and sustainable development. Students, staff and alumni are committed, open and ambitious and passionate about contributing to positive change in society.
In 2019, these goals were formulated in the mission statement "Together for sustainable value creation".
The ambition reflects that sustainability – both with regard to climate, environment and resource management, and to social sustainability that supports inclusive growth and non-polarized societies – has long been our priority at NHH, and is increasingly integrated into all activity.
A concrete example is that sustainability is included as a separate learning goal for all study programmes.
NHH's work in this area is anchored in the UN's global sustainability goals, and in particular to the following specific goals:
• 4 Quality education
• 8 Decent work and economic growth
• 10 Reduced inequalities
• 12 Responsible consumption and production
NHH has also joined the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), a UN-supported initiative to increase awareness of sustainability at business schools and expand and strengthen the offer to students in this field.
Measures and developments must be reported every two years.
Full-time Study Programmes
Sustainability is a part of learning outcome descriptions and learning goals for our bachelor's and master's programmes. A large and increasing selection of courses is specifically about different aspects of sustainability.
Some examples from bachelor’s level:
- Business Ethics, Social Responsibility, and Sustainability
- Environmental Economics and Markets
- Sustainable Investments
Master’s level:
In 2020, more than 19% of the master's theses at NHH had topics that included ethics, responsibility and sustainability, an increase of 9% from the previous year.
Together with the CEMS schools CBS and Esade, NHH has developed and hosts the open, online course SUSTBUS- Sustainable Business Models. The course runs m.a. out of the NHH master's course with the same name and CEMS MIM, and is supported by Erasmus Plus.
Executive education
Lifelong learning and responsible leadership are key elements in NHH's executive education.
A number of programmes, modules and courses are specifically aimed at responsible management, sustainable business models and the like.
- Sustainable Business Strategy
- Bærekraftig finansiell analyse (Sustainable financial analysis)
- Bærekraft og sirkulær business (Sustainability and circular business)
- Merkevaren og bærekraft (Brand and sustainability)
The MBA specialization in Seafood Management was developed to contribute to more sustainable innovation and to help make the industry more responsible.
Research
All research centers at NHH work in line with the UN's sustainability goals. A number of centers have climate, environment, inequality and justice issues as the core of their activity. Here are some of them:
- CSB - Centre for Sustainable Business
- ENE - Energy, Natural Resources and the Environment
- FAIR - Centre for Experimental Research on Fairness, Inequality and Rationality
- Macro, Risk and Sustainability centre
Many NHH researchers are part of the government-appointed expert committee with topics within business ethics, responsibility and sustainability, for example:
- Havbruksskatteutvalget (Aquaculture Tax Committee 2019)
- Klimaomstillingsutvalget (Climate Transition Committee 2020)
- Ekspertgruppe om finansiell klimarisiko (Expert group on financial climate risk 2021).
An increasing number of doctoral dissertations address topics within sustainability in a broad sense. Three examples:
- Ranveig Falch: The economics of inequality
- Grete Helle: Can formal controls stimulate responsible behavior?
- Aija Rusina: Tax havens: Heaven or hell?
Read more about NHH research and sustainability in the PRME report's chapter 4 - Research
Cooperation with business and society
NHH collaborates on climate, environmental and sustainability initiatives with a number of actors from the business community, the public sector and academia. Here are some examples.
The SFI Climate Futures works interdisciplinary to find better methods for tackling climate risk. Norce leads the project. NHH and SNF are among the research partners.
Shift - the business community's climate leaders is an initiative that brings together businesses that will be the driving force for Norway to reach its climate goals by 2030. NHH became a knowledge partner in Shift in March 2021
The Norwegian Climate Foundation is a green think tank that works for a society without man-made emissions of greenhouse gases. NHH has been part of the foundation's council since 2010, and initiated a closer collaboration in 2019.
Energiomstilling Vest (EVO) is a knowledge hub that brings together NHH, UiB, HVL and NORCE to mobilize for increased research and innovation in energy transition.
NHHS - The Student association
NHH's student association has a number of subgroups that work with sustainability and responsibility issues.
- NHHS Green Team works to make the college and the student association more environmentally friendly and to spread knowledge about sustainability. (The illustration is the Green Team logo)
- NHH Aid is a student-driven development project that raises money for new schools in Malawi in collaboration with Unicef.
- NHHS Energi works to increase interest in the energy sector among students. In 2021, they organized a conference with the main theme of carbon capture and storage.
- The Business Committee arranges an annual Career with a Purpose-event, where non-profit and humanitarian organizations present career opportunities for NHH students.
NHH Alumni
NHH Alumni is a network for everyone who has a degree from NHH. Among the membership offers are conferences, seminars and webinars, and many of these are about sustainability.
The Alumni Conference 2020 had sustainability as its main theme with the programme items "Green finance: ESG and shareholder value maximization", "Digital innovation for sustainable growth" and "Sustainable value creation can not be ignored"
Several Alumni Webinars also have addressed sustainability issues in areas from energy supply to digital marketing
Dissemination
The research magazine NHH Bulletin disseminates NHH research through articles, video and opinion pieces, and has its own theme pages covering a number of topics including:
Researchers Lars Jacob Tynes Pedersen and Sveinung Jørgensen address sustainability from a number of different, business-oriented perspectives in the podcast series Bærekraftseventyret (in Norwegian).
NHH professor Thorolf Rafto was deeply involved in work on human rights. Together with the Rafto Foundation, NHH and NHHS organize the conference Thorolf Rafto Challenge, where large companies are invited to discuss the human rights dilemma they face in their activities.
NHH's Spring Conference 2021 addressed polarization and inequality and consequences for the business community.
ECO-lighthouse Certification
Eco-Lighthouse (Miljøfyrtårn) is a Norwegian tool for certification and environmental management that helps public and private businesses to raise and document their environmental efforts, and gain a competitive advantage through accountability.
NHH received the certification in the autumn of 2020. The certificate is valid for three years at a time.
The school reports on a wide range of topics, including greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, waste management and EHS (Environment, Health and Safety).
Read NHH's full report to Eco-Lighthouse for 2022 (In Norwegian)
Read NHH's full report to Eco-Lighthouse for 2022 (In Norwegian)