Beyond the School’s courses centered on clean energy, socially responsible investing, and finance and sustainability—which address the use of financial services and business practices to improve the environment, reduce poverty, advance developing countries, improve corporate governance, develop social entrepreneurs, and more—Columbia Business School is continually taking steps to reduce its environmental footprint and create a positive social and environmental impact.



The Business School, housed in three buildings on Columbia University’s Morningside campus, reduces its waste in many areas. The School minimizes printing as much as possible, adhering to a digital default for most marketing and communications materials. It has also been exploring more options to further reduce its resource use and is investigating e-reader options to replace course-related printing, which will allow students to access course readings electronically.



What resources the School does use, it recycles—including paper, plastic, aluminum, other office supplies such as batteries and printer ink cartridges, etc. There are recycling bins in all public spaces in the School and throughout campus. The University as a whole has long-term sustainability goals that the Business School fully supports, including reducing its greenhouse gas emissions on campus by 30 percent per square foot by 2017. The Business School uses fluorescent bulbs throughout all offices and classrooms, which is a University-wide initiative that reduces CO2 emissions by 1.6 percent. The University has also adopted more efficient ways of cooling buildings with chilled water systems, which are expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 5 percent. These cooling systems have already been implemented in the three buildings the Business School occupies. Additionally the University does not use styrofoam in any of its cafeterias, including Uris Deli in the Business School.



The University has also led the way in building green—buildings on campus that a renovated or newly built strive for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification standards. This goal is also set for the construction of the University’s new Manhattanville campus, where the new Business School buildings will be built. These buildings are projected to meet LEED certification standards, and the construction site will be monitored by a proactive approach—Environmental Performance Commitments Plan (EPC Plan)—to reduce its diesel emissions and minimize impacts of construction on the surrounding community.



In addition to its environmental impact, the School also positively impacts local and international communities. Columbia Business School students have applied their business skills at numerous organizations that directly impact New York City and beyond. Through the Social Enterprise Summer Fellowship Program—which helps provide MBA talent through summer internships to public and nonprofit organizations, NGOs, and social ventures—students work to create social and environmental value. There is a large interest in the community development and education sectors, and many students have worked with charter school networks like Uncommon Schools and KIPP, as well as the NYC Port Authority and the Department of Cultural Affairs. This past summer, one of the summer fellows interned at Living Cities, a philanthropic collaborative that uses mainstream financial markets to improve historically neglected urban neighborhoods and is based out of Harlem.

 

The School's Nonprofit Board Leadership Program (NBLP) cultivates the next generation of nonprofit board leaders by engaging them with alumni who serve on nonprofit boards within NYC. These MBA students then work with alumni mentors and the executive directors of these nonprofits on specific projects relevant to these organizations. NBLP students have worked on projects with such organizations as the Environmental Advocates of New York, the Riverside Park Fund, Jumpstart, Crutches for Kids, the Chinese American Planning Council, Girls Inc., Friends of the Children, Figure Skating in Harlem, Chege Orphanage, the West Side YMCA, and more.

 

Ultimately, the School’s greatest accomplishments lie in what our students go on to do after business school and how they impact the world. Many of our students proceed into business areas focused on creating social and environmental value upon graduation. One of our widely known alumni is Ron Gonen '04 who co-founded RecycleBank, a green rewards program that motivates people to take environmental actions. The company measures and tracks the amount a household recycles and then awards points that can be used at more than 1,500 partners, including Target, Starbucks, and Coca-Cola. We also have alumni at such organizations as Greenwich Energy Solutions, Kilroy Realty Corporation's Sustainability Programs, Deloitte Sustainability, the Environmental Defense Fund, and Greentech Capital Advisors. Andrea Wenner '05 founded Out2Play, a nonprofit that builds playgrounds at city schools. So far, her organization has raised $20 million and built more than 100 playgrounds at elementary schools, mostly in low-income areas. She was featured as one of Crain's New York Business Forty Under 40 rising stars.

 

Columbia Business School also facilitates groups for alumni to connect and network with fellow alumni in their common interest areas focused on improving society and the environment. These groups include such interest areas as arts management, clean technology, international development, microfinance, community development, and more. These networks allow alumni to engage with other alumni and the School in a positive way, focusing on innovation and ideas at the intersection of business, society, and the environment.