The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), formerly the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership and the Cambridge Programme for Industry, is part of the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. The institute works with leaders to tackle critical global challenges through action research, convening business groups and executive education. It has centres in Cambridge,

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. Polly Courtice was founder director of the institute from 1989 to 2021.

King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

is its patron.

History

The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership was founded in 1989. It was formerly known as the Cambridge Programme for Industry, and then Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership. In 2015 the Institute launched its Rewiring the Economy framework setting out ten collaborative tasks for business, policy and finance leaders to lay the foundations for a sustainable global economy.

Governance and people

The Institute is governed by a Management Board and an Advisory Board and has Fellows and Senior Associates from across academia and business who are involved with programme design and delivery, research and work with business leaders groups. Polly Courtice was founder director of the institute from 1989 to 2021. She was made a

Dame ''Dame'' is a traditionally British honorific title given to women who have been admitted to certain orders of chivalry. It is the female equivalent of ''Sir'', the title used by knights. Baronet, Baronetesses Suo jure, in their own right also u ...

in the 2016 Queen's

2016 Birthday Honours The 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

for services to sustainability leadership. the King is its patron.

Alumni

The Institute has over 16,000 alumni from its executive and graduate education for sustainability leadership and a network of companies that belong to its Leaders Groups.

The Prince of Wales's Business & Sustainability Programme

The Prince of Wales's Business & Sustainability Programme is "an international programme for senior executives in leadership roles", established in 1994. Seminars are held around the world as well as online, and by 2024 the programme had over 4,500 alumni. The programme runs four-day residential seminars taking place across four days (or five half-days online), comprising lectures, presentations of

case studies A case study is an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case (or cases) within a real-world context. For example, case studies in medicine may focus on an individual patient or ailment; case studies in business might cover a particular fi ...

, and discussions. Each group is carefully selected to help enable peer-to-peer learning. Each group is led by an expert facilitator, for example seminars in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

have included CISL fellow Paul Gilding, and 2024 designate for Governor-General of Australia and former president of Chief Executive Women,

Sam Mostyn Samantha Joy Mostyn ( ; born 13 September 1965) is an Australian businesswoman and advocate, who has been serving as the 28th governor-general of Australia since 1 July 2024. Mostyn has been an advocate on climate change and gender equality ...

. There is a global

steering committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

which determines the

core curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curriculums or curricula ) is the totality of student experiences that occur in an educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experi ...

Leaders groups

Leaders groups are business-led initiatives, convening business leaders within and across sectors to tackle sustainability issues that they could not solve alone. The current leaders groups are managed under three themes: low carbon transformation,

sustainable finance Sustainable finance is the set of practices, standards, norms, regulations and products that pursue financial returns alongside environmental and/or social objectives. It is sometimes used interchangeably with Environmental, Social & Governance ( ...

and natural resource security: * Prince of Wales's Corporate Leaders Group * Natural Capital Leaders Platform * ClimateWise – the insurance industry * The Banking and Environment Initiative * Investment Leaders Group

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cambridge Institute For Sustainability Leadership Sustainability Leadership, Institute for Research institutes established in 1989 1989 establishments in England Organisations based in Cambridge with royal patronage