The Sustainability Executive Program

The Sustainability Executive Program, offered by IE Business School through IE Executive Education, is a four-day executive program designed to help business leaders translate sustainability into strategy, operations, and competitive advantage. The program goes beyond awareness and reporting by focusing on how companies can respond to changing regulation, investor expectations, stakeholder pressure, and market shifts while using sustainability to support innovation, resilience, and long-term value creation.

Core Content

The program examines the main levers of sustainable business transformation, including ESG principles, double materiality, impact measurement, circular economy, sustainable value chains, governance, sustainable finance, systems thinking, stakeholder engagement, and emerging technologies. Learners explore how to select and apply different sustainability methodologies, embed them into core business functions, and develop a strategic roadmap for organisational transformation. Sessions also incorporate insights from academics and senior practitioners working directly with sustainability challenges.

Key Skills

Participants will develop the ability to assess sustainability challenges strategically, connect ESG considerations with business priorities, and identify where sustainability can create competitive value. The program strengthens skills in double materiality, stakeholder engagement, change management, sustainable finance, value-chain analysis, systems thinking, leadership, and strategic roadmap development. It also helps learners move from compliance-focused approaches toward more integrated sustainability decision-making.

Target Learners

The program is designed for executives, senior managers, sustainability leaders, consultants, and decision-makers responsible for shaping or implementing sustainability strategy within their organisations. It is particularly relevant for professionals who need to navigate evolving regulation, strengthen ESG integration, lead organisational change, or identify how sustainability can support innovation and business growth. The international format also brings together leaders from different industries and markets.

Learning Format

The program is delivered over four days, from 17 to 20 November 2026, in English. It is based in Madrid and uses IE’s Liquid Learning methodology, allowing participants to attend either face-to-face or remotely online. The schedule combines intensive live sessions, peer discussion, practical application, and interaction with faculty and industry leaders. Participants who enrol at least 15 days before the program also receive complimentary access to a self-paced Foundations of Sustainability Online Learning Journey requiring approximately four to six hours of study.

Additional Benefits

The program provides access to IE faculty, guest speakers from companies that have included Telefónica, Santander, KPMG, AXA, Repsol, and Inditex in previous intakes, and an international peer network. Participants are also invited to join the Sustainability Executive Hub – Community of Practice, which supports continued learning, networking, and discussion through seminars and events after the program. This gives the course value beyond the four-day classroom experience by connecting learners with an ongoing sustainability leadership community.

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