According to the GMAC 2024 Prospective Students Survey, 68% of prospective graduate business students said sustainability was important or very important to their academic experience. More striking still, more than a third of those students - 36% - said they would not even consider a school that doesn't prioritise it. That's not a niche concern. That's a mainstream expectation shaping where the next generation of business leaders choose to study.

And yet, not every region is responding equally. Across the Atlantic, many US business schools are navigating an increasingly hostile political climate around ESG and sustainability - scaling back commitments, softening language, or retreating from positions they held just a few years ago.

European schools, by contrast, are largely operating in a fundamentally different environment. Backed by robust regulatory frameworks - from the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) to the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation - and rooted in cultures that have long emphasised collective responsibility, European institutions are not just well-positioned to lead on sustainability. They're often expected to.

This creates a genuine communications opportunity. At a moment when students around the world are actively seeking schools that take sustainability seriously, European business schools can step into a space that others are quietly vacating. But only if they actually communicate what they're doing in a compelling way.

Too many schools are doing meaningful work and saying almost nothing about it - or saying something, but in the kind of vague, jargon-heavy language that lands with very few.

Here are five concrete ways to change that.

1. Put your faculty's sustainability research front and centre

One of the most underutilised assets a business school has is its research. If your faculty are working on climate risk in financial markets, the circular economy, governance frameworks for just transition, and similar topics, that work deserves an audience well beyond academic journals.

Think about how you translate those insights into formats that actually reach people - opinion pieces, press releases, podcast appearances, LinkedIn content that makes complex research feel relevant to a CFO or a policy maker. This kind of content builds intellectual reputation and signals something important to prospective students: the thinking happening here is connected to the real problems the world is trying to solve.

2. Make your curriculum the story, not the footnote

Potential students want to know specifically how sustainability is embedded into the curriculum – not just the modules you provide. Whether it’s learning how to assess climate risk in an investment portfolio, how to design a supply chain that accounts for social impact, how to lead an organisation through a net zero transition – business schools should share the skillsets that students will develop.

If you offer specialist programmes — an MBA with a sustainability track, a masters in sustainable finance, executive education on ESG leadership — make the content of those programmes visible and concrete. Prospective students and corporate partners want to see what the learning looks like in practice, not just what it's called.

3. Celebrate the alumni who've gone on to create real impact

Your alumni are your most powerful proof point. Every graduate who has founded a sustainable business, led a corporate ESG function, or pivoted their career toward impact is a living demonstration of what your education makes possible. These are the stories worth telling — and telling well.

Long-form profiles that go beyond the career highlight reel. Short video content that captures real conviction. Alumni events that create genuine conversation rather than polished testimonials. Crucially, make sure these voices show up not just on an alumni page that few visit, but in the media, in recruitment content, on social media, and at the moments when prospective students are making their decisions.

4. Shout about your sustainable initiatives

Many business schools are running genuinely exciting sustainability initiatives that get far less visibility than they deserve. Whether it's a student-led sustainability fund, a green incubator supporting early-stage impact entrepreneurs, or a formal accreditation like PRME or a Race to Zero commitment, these things matter — but only if people know about them.

Communicate them with specificity rather than generality. Not "we run a range of sustainability initiatives" but a clear, human story about what the initiative is, who it involves, and what it's actually produced. Audiences can feel the difference between a school that is genuinely energised by this work and one that is ticking a communications box. Make sure they feel the former.

5. 5. Show what your campus actually looks like behind the scenes

Students and faculty aren't usually looking for a general green statement on your website — they want to know whether the buildings they spend their days in are powered by renewables, whether the food in the canteen is sourced responsibly, and whether the institution has a credible plan for reaching net zero.

Be transparent about your carbon footprint, your energy sources, your waste and water management, and your travel policies. Use concrete numbers. "We've reduced campus emissions by 40% since 2019" lands very differently from "we're committed to a sustainable future." And if you're earlier in the journey, publish your baseline and share your targets. An honest roadmap is far more credible than a polished claim with nothing behind it.

The question isn't whether sustainability is worth communicating - it's whether your school is telling that story as well as it deserves to be told.

If you want help telling those stories, get in touch with us.

Author: Peter Remon

Peter achieves prominence for clients across a breadth and depth of significant publications, from trade specific media like International Finance Magazine and QS TopMBA, to national and international goliaths such as Handelsblatt, Le Monde, US News and World Report, and the Financial Times. He also writes under his own name for key publications such as HRZone, Medium and Data Driven Investor.