Following its success at ESCP Business School’s Berlin and Paris campuses in the previous academic year, ESCP London Campus joined in offering its students the opportunity to learn about the cause and effect of climate change.
During the September and October induction weeks, 203 students of the Master in Management and MBA in International Management programmes completed the Climate Fresk interactive climate education workshop.
A further 17 students, who completed the workshop on another ESCP campus, took the follow-up Climate Fresk facilitator training to enable them to share the acquired knowledge externally. In addition, 12 of the London Campus professional services and faculty members completed both the workshop and facilitator training during the summer to support the School’s strategic efforts with climate change education.
ESCP Business School has integrated sustainability into the curriculum of its flagship programmes (Bachelor in Management (BSc), Master in Management and MBA in International Management) so that students can be exposed to those issues. The School also offers two specialised programmes that specifically focus on ecological transition: MSc in International Sustainability and MSc in Sustainability Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Student societies like oikos, Lighthouse and GEA Sustainability also bring ESCP’s sustainability strategy to life. The aim is to integrate sustainability across the School’s educational activities and research and internal processes, with the mission to inspire and educate purpose-driven leaders who will have a strong impact on planetary, social and organisational progress. Across ESCP campuses the Green Offices are the platform where the School’s community comes together to implement joint initiatives, exchange ideas, and create sustainability and social-impact alliances.
As part of its mission and strategy, ESCP first hosted the Climate Fresk workshop at the Paris Campus in 2019. The Berlin Campus followed in December 2021 and the London Campus in March 2022. Since 2019, over 2,300 students have participated, and 70 have become trained facilitators.
Based on the reports of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate Fresk is the collaborative intelligence workshop to collectively understand the fundamental science behind climate change and its implications, and to trigger action. In order to act and build solutions, one must first understand the problem. Climate Fresk is a powerful tool for providing a quality climate education that is accessible to anyone and can be scaled quickly within an organisation or community.
Participants leave the workshop having formed a strong bond with each other, well equipped to implement the climate actions that they’ve identified. As they link the cause and effects of climate change, the participants are able to take a step back and understand the systemic nature of the challenges for the first time.
TESTIMONIALS
Professor Joe Miemczyk, professor of sustainability at ESCP and Climate Fresk facilitator, commented: "It was great to run the Climate Fresk with the new MBA students, especially because they have a range of backgrounds including their previous experience and countries of origin. In the group I facilitated, the participants were from France and India and so they shared their different views on the challenges and potential solutions to human induced climate change."
Maud Pouzenc, Master in Management student, shared: “During my first year at ESCP Business School, I participated for the first time in a Climate Fresk workshop, which gave me an overview of the challenges concerning climate change. In September I experienced the Climate Fresk again, but this time I was trained as a facilitator. This training triggered my will to do more to raise awareness about climate crisis. Today, I want to take part in the Climate Fresk movement as a facilitator, and wish to enter the employment market in 2023 with a job tackling the climate crisis challenges.”
ACTIONS STUDENTS CAN TAKE TO BUILD ON WHAT THEY LEARNT IN THE WORKSHOPS
- Spread the word – education is empowerment. Climate literacy is essential, so talking about the climate crisis should be normalised.
- Implement concrete solutions in daily life through following the scientific suggestions from Count Us In or take the JUMP and trying six shifts to protect the Earth.
- Measure your carbon footprint to identify any changes someone can make to reduce their CO2 emissions.
- Whilst at ESCP London Campus, students can do their bit by taking part in sustainability-related company and module projects within ESCP’s programme, join one of many sustainability-related student societies, and look out for opportunities to work with other students and staff on projects managed by the London Green Office.
Read more about how Climate Fresk enables ESCP to bring climate change science to its community at the ESCP Masters blog by Léo Police, president of student society Oikos Berlin and an MSc student in International Sustainability Management.
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