Sustainability is Strategy

Either we have a Sustainable Business, or we will have No Business at all

Sustainability is now a decisive factor in competitiveness. It influences access to capital, risk assessment, talent management, and relationships with customers, investors, and other stakeholders. In a context of high global uncertainty, leaders face a central challenge: how to integrate sustainability into top strategic decisions.

Sustainability as Strategy is an executive program that prepares leaders to incorporate sustainability into the core of their business strategy, transforming it into a true driver of value creation and competitive advantage.

With a practical and experiential approach, the program combines experiential learning, case studies, real-life cases, role play, leadership expeditions, and sessions with CATÓLICA-LISBON professors, business leaders, and international lecturers, including John Elkington, faculty member and creator of the Triple Bottom Line - People, Profit and Planet, one of the most influential approaches to integrating sustainability into business strategy. Participants also develop a project applied to the context of their organization.

Throughout the program, participants join the Responsible Business Alumni Community - Champions Network, reinforcing their position as leaders capable of anticipating trends, influencing governance, and supporting informed strategic decisions.

Sustainability is not an option. It is the strategy.

Who is this program for:

• Heads of Sustainability, Social Responsibility Directors, ESG Executives, Environmental Advisors, Board Members, Founders, and C-level leaders seeking to align sustainability with business strategy and prepare their organizations for the post-2030 future.

• Ideal for those looking to strengthen sustainable leadership, integrate ESG into the core of the business, overcome internal resistance, measure sustainability ROI, and position their organizations for global transformation.

What makes this program transformational:

• Enables participants to identify and turn ESG risks and opportunities into concrete competitive advantages.

• Strengthens influence at top management level, including Board of Directors and investors.

• Provides the tools to integrate sustainability into core business strategy, aligning impact, financial performance, and value creation across areas such as strategy, marketing and communication, finance, and human resources.

• Positions participants as strategic leaders of sustainable transformation, prepared for global challenges and complex decision-making.

• Strengthens the strategic business case for sustainability investments and decisions, reinforcing its role in long-term competitiveness and success.

Program Structure

Discover the learning modules and unlock your full potential.

I. Immersive retreat: The fundamentals of a sustainable strategy (13h)

1) Introduction: Why Sustainability as a Strategy in a Changing World?

2) The Strategy: Fundamentals of Sustainable Competitive Advantage

3) Sustainability as a business: arguments for future businesses

4) From Purpose to market leadership: How to define a strategy aligned with stakeholders?

5) Sustainability reporting and due diligence: strategy or compliance?

6) How sustainable finance will change the business world

Leadership expedition (2h)

The importance of Responsible Leadership in a fractured world

II. Sustainability in practice: an implementation plan for my business (11,5h)

1) How to define a winning sustainable strategy

2) How to define a winning sustainable strategy

3) My business's sustainable strategy: step by step I & II

4) Double Materiality: how to develop and put it at the service of strategy

5) Immersion in reality: sharing good corporate environmental practices

6) Immersion in reality: sharing good corporate social practices

7) How to generate business with sustainability? Practical application

Leadership expedition (2h)

Governance as a pillar of sustainable business

III. Accelerating sustainability in my business (3,5h)

1) How to “sell” sustainability internally

2) Innovation, Sustainability, and AI

Leadership expedition (1h)

Technology and Sustainability: Much more than a world of Artificial Intelligence

Final Session (2.5h)

Future trends and sustainability - Forum with CEO's

Program Directors

Nuno Moreira da Cruz

Nuno Moreira da Cruz has a Law Degree at Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Lisbon, a post-graduate in European Studies at the College of Europe in Bruges(Belgium) and an MBA in IE Business School (Madrid). He is also a Certified Coach (Escuela Europea de Coaching, Madrid) and Mentor for Start Up’s. After a short experience in the banking sector, Nuno joined the Bp Group holding several business jobs around Europe, working in Brussels, Madrid and London. He returned to Portugal to join Galp as a Board Member and was CEO of Galp Spain for five years. In our University, Nuno has taught International Business and Strategy, and is now teaching Responsible Business and Business Ethics in MBA, Masters and Undergraduate Programs. He was Executive Director of the Center for Responsible Business & Leadership at CATÓLICA-LISBON and he is now the Dean For Executive Education.

Filipa Pires de Almeida

Executive Director of CRB (Center for Responsible Business and Leadership) at CATÓLICA-LISBON, and investigates in the area of strategy and international business, namely how companies embrace sustainable strategies to develop competitive advantage, with a focus on the SDGs. She is a professor of executive training, bachelors and masters at the School of Economics and Law and is developing her PhD at the Rotterdam School of Management in Strategy and Sustainability, focused on the Sustainable Development Goals as a strategic advantage for companies. Filipa has a degree in Economics, a Masters in Management, Strategy and Entrepreneurship, and she completed the Shared Value executive course at Harvard Business School with professors Michael Porter and Mark Kramer. She was a social business trainer and mentor, having been Community Manager and Business Developer at IES-Social Business School. She worked as Economic and Monetary Policy Adviser at the European Parliament, having also worked at Deloitte Consulting.

Testimonials:

Want to know more?

Contact the program manager:

E-mail: andreia.hidalgo@ucp.pt
Phone: +351 214 269 846

CATÓLICA-LISBON

Sustainable Business Strategy

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