The Yale School of Management hosted the first annual Latin American Corporate Sustainability Analysis workshop on May 5, bringing together teams of scholars and business experts from Yale, EGADE Business School, and INCAE Business School with PhD candidates from across the Global Network for Advanced Management to discuss sustainability initiatives across Central and South America.

Groups presented and reviewed a series of corporate sustainability case studies that showcased how top Latin American businesses have made environmental initiatives a core part of their strategy. The gathering was the first Global Network event that connected PhD candidates from throughout the network.

“Sustainability has become one of the overarching themes of the 21st century—with new expectations for everyone from governments to companies to communities to individuals,” said Daniel C. Esty, Hillhouse professor of environmental law and policy at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, who organized the event through the Yale Center for Law and Environmental Policy. “With the adoption last year of the new United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement, sustainability has become a major focus all over the world—and companies as well as governments are now asking what it will take to contribute to a sustainable future.”

A selection of the studies developed at the conference will be published in a book analyzing trends about corporate sustainability in Latin American countries in 2017, Esty said.