Career Pathways in Business and the Environment

Source: https://cbey.yale.edu/career-pathways-in-business-and-the-environment Parent: https://cbey.yale.edu/yale-initiative-on-sustainable-finance-yisf

So...what's the work really like and how can I get there?

Private corporations are increasingly stepping forward as leaders in the realm of social and environmental sustainability. By re-thinking their operations and products, companies are actively driving change and making a positive impact.

Students across Yale are eager to join this movement. Our Pathways program seeks to support students in their pursuit of careers in the private sector that focus on doing good for communities, ecosystems, and the planet.

With this program, we aim to support students who want to pursue a career at the intersection of business and the environment...who want their work to accelerate the transition to a just and thriving world.

Each month we feature people working in various roles and sectors so students can hear firsthand what their jobs are like, how they might consider following a similar (or different!) pathway, and engage in conversation with people doing the work.

Our different types of programs, events, and resources are listed below. We hope you join us at an upcoming event or download one of our career guides!

In this series, returning students help incoming students by sharing their recent summer experiences at the intersection of business and the environment.

Interesting, informative, and often humorous, these talks give personal accounts of experiences and highlight the many possible career pathways for students considering work in this space.

CliMates is a student-driven speaker series that fosters peer-to-peer learning on sustainability topics. Each session features students sharing insights from their past experiences and discussing how emerging trends shape their work. Past events have explored themes such as climate modeling, agritech innovations, and corporate greenhouse gas targets.

The Conservation Finance Spring Speaker Series brings together leading experts to explore four key dimensions of conservation finance, addressing the urgent funding gap created by accelerating deforestation and biodiversity loss and the need to direct capital toward equitable, effective nature protection.

This speaker series invites senior-level sustainability-oriented professionals to discuss the work they do and the journeys they have taken in their careers. By sharing their stories, speakers provide a set of possible roadmaps for students to follow (or avoid). From the outside, roles at the intersection of business and the environment can be difficult to navigate. This series is meant to offer a look at the types of roles that exist, how people have gotten there, and offer practical career guidance.

In an effort to create opportunities for students to engage in more intimate dialogue with alumni and people in the field, we organize a series of small group chats as part of the Pathways in Business and the Environment program.

These are meant to provide an informal, small-group environment for students to learn from those who are newer to their fields and what the day-to-day of their work entails. These are meant to be candid conversations, offering practical advice as students think about entering a particular field.

No presentations! Just informal conversations with people actively engaged in their fields.

Mentorship & Advice

CBEY offers many options for one-on-one coaching sessions about your career path, venture, innovative idea and beyond. Members of the Yale community can schedule time with one of our fellows and mentors.

CBEY Resident Fellows are resources deeply embedded in Yale’s initiatives and programs to take action against environmental challenges.

Our CBEY Alumni Visiting Mentors program connects current students with alumni who’ve stood where they are now, and have gone on to make a meaningful impact in the field.

Learn more and meet our CBEY Resident Fellows Learn more and meet our CBEY Alumni Visiting Mentors

Corporate sustainability can mean various programs, jobs, and skills to different people in the field of business and the environment.

We are delighted to release this updated career guidebook on corporate sustainability! We launched the first guide in 2018…quite a bit has happened since then, but the need and interest in integrating sustainability into all parts of business continues to grow.

This downloadable guide is meant to:

provide a guide for students to think about the many faces of corporate sustainability across sectors, companies and organizations
provide resources, courses, events and alumni examples to help students understand their career options

Download the guide

Global renewable energy employment has seen staggering growth in recent years. The renewable energy industry now employs more than 10 million people around the world, nearly double the number employed just five years prior.

This downloadable guide aims to:

provide a “pathway” for current students interested in a career in the clean energy sector and share a summary of where Yale energy alumni are today
help current students best position themselves during their limited time at Yale

Download the guide

One of the most pressing issues facing humans today is how to best address the immense challenges and opportunities in our global and local food systems.

This downloadable guide aims to:

offer insight into the various types of roles that exist in this space, including agriculture, supply chains, marketing & retail, policy & advocacy, and finance.
highlight the resources at Yale, in New Haven, and beyond to help students get the most out of their time at Yale.

Download the guide

Career Pathways in Business and the Environment is a collaboration of: