EY's 312,000 staff can follow a free master's degree in sustainability

Big Four firm EY has launched another new educational programme with Hult International Business School. Having launched a free Masters in Business Analytics in 2021, EY will also make a Sustainability Masters available to its global employees, without charge.

The EY Masters in Sustainability aims to significantly expand sustainability and climate literacy among EY’s staff, helping them transfer their skills into sustainability services for clients around the globe. All learning will be provided entirely online and candidates will be able to study from anywhere in the world, at a pace that works for them, while the qualification itself will be awarded by Hult International Business School.

Mukul Kumar, Hult Chief Innovation Officer, remarked, “Hult has been passionate about social and environmental sustainability and its intersection with business for quite some time. We are delighted to be collaborating with EY to educate its people on viewing sustainability as both a business challenge and competitive opportunity.”

The move is the latest in a succession of collaborations between Hult and EY. In 2020, EY also launched a new virtual corporate MBA, in association with Hult, available for all EY people, free of charge and irrespective of prior qualifications or location. The Big Four firm also began offering a new, fully accredited Masters in Business Analytics, in September via the university.

As with both those examples, all of EY’s 312,000 global staff will be able to sign up to the new Sustainability Masters without cost. The customised curriculum looks to efficiently upskill students in high growth areas for client work, providing them with a differentiating qualification in the talent marketplace.

Commenting on the programme to that end, Trent Henry, EY Global Vice Chair for Talent, noted, “This new Masters is the first of its kind and it will help EY people tackle some of the most important issues organisations are currently facing. The exceptional EY experience is for EY people to build, and I am proud of the leading class learning opportunities that help them to build the careers they want, in a way that works for them.”

In addition to building climate literacy among its people, EY’s global organisation is working to improve its own climate impacts. In 2021 the EY organisation became carbon negative – a key step on its journey to hit net zero by 2025. To achieve this ambition, EY teams have  set an aggressive target to significantly reduce its emissions by 40% in that time.

Carmine Di Sibio, EY Global Chairman and CEO, stated, “Sustainability is one of the defining issues of our time and taking a lead on climate change is a vital element of building a better working world. EY people are passionate about tackling global challenges and this qualification will help both the EY organisation and EY clients become true leaders in building a more sustainable world.”