Open-enrollment, live online program will run April 1–May 20, 2025

October 17, 2024

PHILADELPHIA, October 17, 2024 — Major companies and countries in increasing numbers are pledging a net-zero impact by the middle or end of this century. In fact, the count of businesses officially working on environmental pledges more than doubled from 2022 to 2023 and now exceeds 4,000, according to Forbes. Powerful forces are fueling this trend, including government regulations, consumer and investor preferences, and companies’ own recognition that sustainability can mean revenue growth. But for many executives, questions remain about how to effectively institute a successful decarbonization program.

The new live online Wharton Executive Education program Net-Zero Transformation aims to offer business leaders a practical, research-based roadmap to sustainability. It helps executives learn to strategize, launch, measure, and report on reductions in their companies’ environmental footprint.

“We want to enable firms to take ownership of this topic,” says academic director Gad Allon, Jeffrey A. Keswin Professor and Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions at the Wharton School. “We want them to be able to ask the right questions, discover how to implement programs, and understand both the subject of sustainability and the business implications.”

Executives will gain insights into sustainable practices around carbon measurement and management with a focus on key areas such as travel and transportation, buildings and construction, and supply chains. They will investigate regulatory trends, assessing which current or emerging climate policies are likely to impact their firms. The program will also enable them to explore new revenue streams and business-model innovations that decarbonization can yield.

Allon notes that program participants will also engage with some of the trade-offs involved in decarbonization. For example, an office building from a century ago may have elegant original windows that a restorer recommends preserving. But what if those windows can’t meet energy-efficiency standards?

The program’s format features live online discussion with Wharton faculty via weekly three-hour sessions, interspersed with self-paced online learning so that participants can work through foundational material at their convenience. Participants will also engage in team collaboration, case studies, and interactive exercises.

Session topics include Sustainability in Your Core; Measuring, Reporting, and Carbon Accounting; A Closer Look at the Regulatory Framework; Travel and Transportation: The Low-Emission Direction; Supply Chain and Sustainability; Site, Shelter, Setting: Net-Zero Building Design, Construction, and Operation; and Business-Model Innovation for Sustainability.

Net-Zero Transformation should be especially valuable for C-level and senior executives worldwide whose companies are committing to sustainability. It will also be relevant for many other senior managers, including environmental-compliance officers, operations and supply chain managers, and nonprofit and NGO leaders.

The familiar business saying “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” seems apropos when it comes to the Net-Zero Transformation program. Allon comments that what truly distinguishes the program—and makes it highly actionable for business leaders—is its rigorous take on the subject. “While we do look at case studies,” he says, “we lead with a quantitative, analytical, research-backed approach. We’re not shying away from getting deep into topics.”

Net-Zero Transformation is now accepting applications. Prospective participants can learn more and apply at executiveeducation.wharton.upenn.edu.

About Wharton Executive Education

Wharton Executive Education has served as the global leader in executive development for 35 years. Steeped in the heritage and analytical insights of the Wharton School, with an eye toward shaping the future of business, Wharton Executive Education's individual, online, and custom programs prepare more than 100,000 professionals a year to transform their careers and organizations. For more information on Wharton Executive Education's practical business solutions, visit executiveeducation.wharton.upenn.edu.

About the Wharton School

Founded in 1881 as the world’s first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With a faculty of more than 235 renowned professors, Wharton has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students. Each year 100,000 professionals from around the world advance their careers through Wharton Executive Education’s individual, company-customized, and online programs, and thousands of pre-collegiate students explore business concepts through Wharton’s www.wharton.upenn.edu.

Media Contact

Sarah SchwabDirector of Communications Aresty Institute of Executive Education
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania execed-pr@wharton.upenn.edu