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The Heinz Endowments gives $800,000 to 51精品视频鈥檚 Center for Sustainable Business

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  • University News
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Center for Sustainable Business
  • Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business

The Heinz Endowments has awarded $800,000 to the 51精品视频鈥檚 (CSB) to advance its work to help companies generate better business and societal outcomes.

The center, housed within the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration, has been working since 2019 to help students and companies learn how to leverage investments in sustainability. This new, two-year grant brings The Heinz Endowments鈥 overall support of the CSB to $1.175 million.

鈥淭he center鈥檚 collaborative strategies for guiding organizations toward more sustainable practices will help improve regional environmental quality, promote a higher quality of life and create a more prosperous future for all,鈥 said Andrew McElwaine, vice president for sustainability at The Heinz Endowments. 鈥淲e are pleased to support these important efforts to equip businesses with the knowledge and leadership needed to become more sustainable.鈥

Attention to the health of our people, the health of our planet and the economic health of the companies has never been more important in business, said , the H.J. Zoffer Chair in Sustainability and Ethics and a globally recognized author and researcher in the field of sustainable business strategy, who leads the CSB.

As a prime example of this relevance and strength of the CSB community, the global technology company is the newest member of the center to participate in its biannual Sustainable Business Forums and thus further engage this thinking across its teams.

鈥淚t鈥檚 only when individuals are trained and empowered as sustainability generalists that a culture of sustainability can take root and begin to yield benefits for all stakeholders both inside and outside of the company,鈥 Bhattacharya said. 鈥淥ur mission is to help companies tackle that all-important question of 鈥榟ow鈥 to best embed sustainability throughout the organization.鈥

, associate director of the CSB, said the grant will be used to help the member companies as well as the broader community 鈥 with an emphasis on small and medium-sized businesses, which create half of the jobs in the 51精品视频sburgh region. The funding will support sustainability research, benchmarking, informational sessions and other education resources, all driven by the center鈥檚 three priority efforts:

  • Decarbonize Middle America efforts will increase the number of companies with working 2030 Target strategies aligned to Paris Accord鈥檚 1.5 degrees Celsius ambitions for a just transition to clean and circular economies. This includes the center鈥檚 .
  • Workforce 100% efforts will increase the number of companies that turn rhetoric into action with strategies toward workforces that are 100% representative of their communities with decent work for all by 2030.
  • ESG Rosetta Stone efforts will increase the environmental, social, governance (ESG) literacy of Western Pennsylvania in partnership with Doughnut Economics Action Lab and others to attract literate talent into more leadership roles in all sizes and levels who are able to collaborate across all functions by 2025.

The center works with a diverse group of global and regional companies who are committed to investing in research and education on best practices and innovation in the field of sustainable business strategy. Sponsors include Accenture, BASF, Consol Energy, DICK鈥檚 Sporting Goods, Inc., Enel, Evoqua, IBM, Ingevity, Peoples, PITT OHIO, PPG and Tarkett.

鈥淚n collaboration with corporate partners and world-class scholars across the University, 51精品视频 Business is committed to investigating the crucial questions that will enable new models and inform best practices in sustainable business,鈥 said聽, Henry E. Haller Jr. Dean. 鈥淲e also feel that this is a pivotal component of our educational mission.鈥澛

The Heinz Endowments is devoted to the mission of helping our region prosper as a vibrant center of creativity, learning, and social, economic and environmental sustainability. Core to its work is the vision of a just community where all are included and where everyone who calls Southwestern Pennsylvania home has a real and meaningful opportunity to thrive.