The School reviews its sustainable transition achievements for 2023–2024
June 18, 2025
At HEC Montréal, sustainable transition is more than just a goal: it inspires our actions, from education to research, including governance and partnerships. The 2023–2024 achievement review highlights the real progress made by an entire mobilized community – students, faculty and administrative staff, alumni and external partners – working together to build a more equitable, inclusive and resilient society.
“Universities have a pressing responsibility, now more than ever, to actively participate in the search for concrete solutions to ensure a sustainable future. The School has therefore chosen to strongly reaffirm its commitment and is now positioning itself as being committed to doing more to sustainably manage a world in transition.”
“Our approach, focused on collaboration, action, learning and transparency, leads us to constantly rethink our practices and seize new opportunities to maximize our impact, while remaining aware of new challenges and our limitations.”
Supporting academic, administrative and research projects
The School actively supports its researchers, faculty and administrative staff in exploring sustainable solutions, while respecting their academic freedom. Several training programs were launched in 2024 to provide support to the community, including the “Être un acteur de la transition durable” modules as well as an independent digital pathway to promote the gradual integration of sustainable transition concepts into courses.
The management course in the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program has been redesigned to incorporate SD and CSR as its foundations. At the beginning of the semester, the integration of the TASK™ (The Assessment of Sustainability Knowledge) test served as a catalyst to initiate discussions on these issues. As of September 2024, more than 1,190 BBA students and 236 MBA students were able to assess their sustainability knowledge.
The data also reveals a strong interest: 50% of the credits chosen by students are focused on themes related to sustainable transition. Furthermore, over 800 people participated in training with First Nations Executive Education in 2024.
In 2023–2024, around 3,550 people also attended events supported by the Sustainability Fund, which also provided funding to the tune of approximately $66,000 for 42 student projects.
Creating and sharing knowledge
The School plays a leading role in research and knowledge transfer related to sustainable transition. In 2024, 42.3% of its research units incorporated issues regarding SD, CSR or ethics into their work. Key initiatives include:
- The iA Financial Group Chair in Sustainable Finance
- The Chair in Organizational Ethics and Governance of AI
- Launch of Measuring Beyond, a strategic partnership with the University of Oxford to redesign the tools for measuring ESG and sustainable strategies.
Last year, HEC Montréal was ranked 3rd in Canada by Financial Times for the societal impact of its research articles that were aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2023–2024, 32.1% of the School’s scientific articles were related to SDGs.
Strengthening governance and increasing visibility
The integration of the Sustainable Transition Office (STO) in the School’s Executive Committee has led to a more solid anchoring of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in all of HEC Montréal’s activities. This commitment to transformation is also embodied in the concrete actions that have earned international recognition for the institution:
- STARS certification from AASHE (Gold 2021)
- Renewed recognition as Ashoka U’s first Francophone Changemaker Campus (2023)
- 36th place worldwide in the 2024 Better World MBA Rankings (Corporate Knights)
- 1st place in the Entrepreneurial Spirit category of the World University Rankings for Innovation (WURI) for the SEED/IDEOS project (2024)
The School is also taking action on the financial front, with a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions associated with its endowment fund portfolio in 2024. Finally, the impact of such training is reflected in the job market: 83.9% of graduates hold positions that incorporate notions of sustainable development, ethics or corporate social responsibility. HEC Montréal’s commitment is clear: To train responsible leaders capable of addressing current and future challenges in our society.
View the 2023–2024 achievement review (in French)