Press release
Sustainability speaks out at HEC Paris
Jouy en Josas, 30th September 2009
From Yann Arthus Bertrand on Sep 16th to Rajendra Kumar Pachauri on October 15th, HEC
Paris places sustainable issues at the heart of its new school year.
HEC Paris has embraced sustainability alongside corporate social responsibility and business
ethics as an integral element of its curricula. To maintain its commitment to a more responsible
and informed corporate environment, HEC Paris will welcome Rajendra Kumar Pachauri on
October 15th 2009, and will appoint him HEC Professor Honoris Causa.
An economist and environmental scientist of immense repute, Pachauri is presently the
Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He is also the DirectorGeneral of TERI (Tata Energy Research Institute) - an institute dedicated to sustainable
development. Pachauri was in the limelight recently when IPCC, along with the former US
Vice President Al Gore, won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 and Pachauri received the award
on behalf of IPCC.
During his visit to the HEC campus, Pachauri will engage students in a lecture focused on
environmental issues and the problem of global warming.
“HEC has long been at the heart of sustainable business education through its long-standing
involvement in sustainable development programs” says Bernard Ramanantsoa, Dean of HEC
Paris. “We nurture this responsibility through our commitment to teaching sustainability and
business ethics.”
HEC Paris has invested dedicated faculty resources to address issues related to sustainable
development. Six years ago HEC launched a Specialized Master’s program on sustainability
(2003) and has led the Deloitte Chair on Energy Management since 2006.
Positive Management has been fully integrated as a key learning process throughout the HEC
Paris MBA Program. “Positive Management has developed a cutting-edge, holistic approach to
building participants’ ethical awareness” explains Valérie Gauthier, Associate Dean of the
HEC MBA program. “Initiatives like the Social Business Conference, the integration of Mission
and Action Projects, the introduction of courses covering sustainable business practices, and
the launch of the carbon neutrality initiative reflect an ongoing commitment to forecasting and
meeting the changing needs of global business”.
To introduce HEC’s newest students to the necessity of sustainability, the MSc, MBA and
Executive MBA programs welcomed their new student intakes with a compelling inaugural
address from Yann Arthus Bertrand, the renowned French photographer, film-maker and
environmental activist as President of GoodPlanet.
Arthus Bertrand forcefully underlined the need for the current generation of students to assume
responsibility for man’s impact on the planet, and achieve positive change through alternative
solutions to the energy crisis.
About HEC Paris
Founded in 1881, HEC specializes in management education and research.
HEC offers a complete and unique range of academic programs for the leaders of the future: the Masters Degrees
(MSc programs and Specialized Masters), the MBA program (full-time and part-time), the Executive MBA (Paris,
Beijing, Shanghai and St Petersburg), the TRIUM Global Executive MBA (New York, Paris and London) and the
PhD.
HEC has a permanent faculty of 111 professors, 3,400 students on its campus and over 8,500 managers and
executives trained in executive education programs each year. Altogether, 98 different nationalities are represented
on the 320-acre campus.
HEC Paris is ranked #1 Business School in Europe by the Financial Times.
Press contact at HEC Paris: Elisabeth de Réals, + 33 1 39 67 94 23 dereals@hec.fr