About

Who we are

The overall objective of the Centre for Sustainability is to maintain and develop its position as an internationally renowned and leading knowledge hub for the study of sustainability, and to bring that knowledge to sustainability transitions.

To that end, the Centre continues to stimulate the production of world-class research, teaching, and outreach activities that are of high relevance to academia, practice and society in general.

With a faculty and staff of approximately 50 people, including 12 full professors, the Centre for Sustainability comprises one of the largest concentrations of sustainability-related research in academia. The Centre is currently lead by researchers with international and Danish reputations in the field.

Located in the Management, Society & Communication Department (MSC) at Copenhagen Business School, the Centre operates as a semi-independent unit, i.e. in terms of events, communication, big picture knowledge, team building. It also operates through its five groups (Sustainable Governance, Consumer & Behavioral Insights, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Communication & Organization) which reflect different disciplinary strengths and issue focuses and activities (e.g. paper development, grant applications, more specialized events), with wider MSC networks. The Centre’s current theme is Sustainability Transitions.

The purpose of the Centre is to nurture knowledge for sustainability transitions, through research, education, and engagement with policy and practice.

Indicative research areas are: 

• Governance of sustainability & corporate 'political' roles
• Private authority & public policy (e.g. in supply & value chains)
• Roles of consumers & citizens in: sustainable consumption & production; health and well-being; climate action
• Finance for sustainability & sustainable finance (e.g. for sustainable urban infrastructure)
• Sustainability business opportunities & sustainable business models
• Sustainable / Social Venturing
• Education for Sustainable Entrepreneurship
• Humanitarianism for sustainability
• Industry sectors (e.g. fashion, social enterprises, fair trade)
• Communication, organization & sustainability
• Circular economy

Networks and collaborations

The Centre’s faculty is actively engaged in networks and collaboration with faculty from the international research community, including researchers from the world’s best universities within the area of sustainability, both within and outside of Europe.

The Centre’s cross-institutional research engagement includes being a founding partner of the Academy of Business in Society (EABIS, Europe) as well as active participation in international associations such as the Academy of Management and the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS). The Centre has sponsored several sub-themes at EGOS and contributed lead coordinators to the Standing Working Group ‘Business and Society’.

Our history

In 2002, the Centre for Corporate Values and Responsibility (CVR) at CBS was founded based on faculty research interest in corporate values and an increasing interest in corporate social responsibility.

The Centre’s faculty grew to embrace CSR as its primary research interest, and in 2007 the Centre’s name was changed to the CBS Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (cbsCSR) to reflect this change.

In a move that further cemented CBS’ commitment to social responsibility, the school became a signee to the U.N. Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) in 2009 and established the CBS PRME office.

In 2011, CBS established the Business in Society (BiS) Platforms to generate knowledge about the complex relationship between businesses and society. One of the first of these platforms, the Sustainability Platform, engaged in research, education and outreach activities which focused on sustainability across CBS.

In 2014, the VELUX Chair in Corporate Sustainability was established to explore sustainability at the interface between private enterprise, public policy and civil society, and the World Class Research Environment Governing Responsible Business (GRB) was established to conduct research on the link between responsible business and governance.

The Sustainability Platform expired in 2016 and its work was continued under the multidisciplinary organizational unit CBS Sustainability, which promoted and coordinated sustainability efforts at CBS.

In 2018, the cbsCSR centre was relaunched under the name CBS Sustainability Centre, becoming the central gathering point for sustainability-related research, teaching and outreach at CBS.

In 2024, the CBS Sustainability Centre was relaunched under the name Centre for Sustainability, remaining as the central gathering point for sustainability-related research, teaching and outreach at CBS.