Sustainable Development Society Enriches HBS Environmental Focus

Social Enterprise Newsletter, Spring 2001

Global environmental issues may well be the most difficult challenge facing current and future generations. A new student organization, the HBS Sustainable Development Society (SDS), was formed last spring by members of the Class of 2001 to be "an enduring institution at HBS that promotes research and understanding of environment-related issues, careers, industries, organizations, and systems among students and faculty."

Events in SDS's inaugural year included a speaker series, student discussions, conference participation, and educational articles in the HBS student newspaper. Speakers included senior executives from large multinational corporations (Ford, General Motors, British Petroleum), to firms trying to ferment revolution (fuel cell maker Ballard Power Systems, biotech powerhouse Monsanto, and the natural plastic joint venture Dow Cargill Polymers), to organizations active in the developing world (the World Bank, EcoLogic). Student discussions covered topics such as global water supplies, renewable energy, the 2000 presidential election, and biotechnology. Mirroring the reality that effective, sustainable solutions to environmental problems require multidisciplinary approaches, nearly all of these events were cosponsored with other HBS student organizations.

SDS copresidents Omri Dahan and Rahul Shendure (both HBS '01) believe that the notion that protection of the environment rests solely in the domains of governments or nonprofits is antiquated. They note there is increasing evidence that environmental challenges represent significant opportunities for the private sector. They also say the private sector alone has the ability to drive change on a global scale. In addition to opportunities such as product differentiation, managing competitors, cost reduction, and risk management, recent advances in areas such as biotechnology and materials science are creating exciting high-growth opportunities in technology-driven start-up ventures.

"HBS students have the potential to drive fantastic amounts of change over the course of their lives — locally, regionally, and globally," says Shendure. "SDS's overarching goal, however, is nothing short of making fundamental, sustainable changes in the relationship between humankind and the environment."