The Porto Business School’s operations, by nature, exert a direct and significant influence on the social, economic and environmental fabric of its surroundings, not only at regional or national level, but certainly also in broader geographical spheres, given the growing weight of internationalisation and network collaboration.
The topic of sustainable development has taken on increasing relevance, as this is one of the School’s strategy vectors, along with various specific goals, including metrics linked to social responsibility and environmental performance. There are several examples of sustainable development strategies, which take place in different settings:
1. In developing programmes, where topics such as Sustainability and ODS have been strengthened and the SULITEST [in MBA programmes] has been introduced;
2. In internal (Junior University, Planting Trees,...) and external volunteering initiatives [partnerships with SIC Esperança, Grace/GIRO, Junior Achievement Portugal,...] which were met with an exceptional community response, with highly satisfactory results;
3. In partnerships and collaboration with other institutions and initiatives [BCSD Portugal, CIDADE+, Associação Vida Norte, etc.], which have contributed toward broadening the scope and impact of the Porto Business School’s activities in surrounding communities;
4. Infrastructures – The Porto Business School was the first Portuguese school to obtain LEED – Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design certification, in the GOLD category, thus joining a short list of international schools, such as Harvard, MIT, Columbia and Stanford, whose buildings take into account the efficient use of non-renewable resources and the minimisation of environmental impacts on the regions where they operate.
