Climate change is moving deeper into the corporate decision-making process. Extreme weather can disrupt operations and supply chains, while carbon regulation, disclosure requirements and transition risks are changing how companies allocate capital and compete. That shift is forcing business schools to reconsider what an MBA graduate needs to know. Research by Professor Nattavud Pimpa of the College of Management, Mahidol University, argues that climate education should move beyond standalone sustainability electives and become part of the core management curriculum.

The MBA Is Facing a Climate Skills Test

For decades, climate change could be treated by many business leaders as an environmental or corporate social responsibility issue. That distinction is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.

A flood can disrupt a manufacturing facility. Drought can affect agricultural supply chains. Higher energy costs can alter operating margins. Carbon requirements can influence investment decisions, while climate disclosure rules can change the information companies are expected to provide to investors and other stakeholders.

The result is a broader challenge for business education: future managers need to understand climate change as a business variable, not simply an environmental topic.

Professor Nattavud Pimpa of the College of Management, Mahidol University (CMMU), has been examining that question through research into climate change education in Thai business schools. His 2025 study, Redefine Climate Change Education in the Thai Business Schools, examined curricula across six MBA and Master of Management programs and found that sustainability is increasingly recognised, but climate change remains unevenly integrated into core business education.

That finding points to a wider problem for management education.

Climate literacy is becoming management literacy

A manager evaluating a new investment may need to consider physical climate exposure, transition risks, energy costs and carbon implications alongside conventional financial metrics.

A supply-chain executive may need to assess the vulnerability of suppliers to extreme weather. A marketing team may have to evaluate environmental claims and the risk of greenwashing. Finance professionals increasingly encounter climate-related data when assessing companies, investments and long-term risk.

These are not separate “sustainability jobs.” They are increasingly components of mainstream management.

Pimpa’s research argues that climate change should therefore cut across traditional MBA disciplines, including finance, strategy, operations, marketing and leadership, rather than being isolated within an elective.

The distinction matters because an MBA curriculum built around conventional business functions can leave students with fragmented knowledge. A sustainability course may explain environmental challenges, while finance teaches capital allocation and operations covers supply chains. The harder task is teaching students how those areas interact when climate risk becomes part of the equation.

The skills gap is broader than carbon accounting

Climate-ready managers do not necessarily need to become climate scientists. They do, however, need enough technical knowledge to understand the data and decisions increasingly entering corporate planning.

Pimpa identifies a portfolio of competencies that includes climate-smart business thinking, systems thinking, critical analysis and problem-solving.

Technical knowledge is another layer. Students need familiarity with carbon accounting, greenhouse-gas inventories, Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions, supply-chain decarbonisation and frameworks such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

They also need data literacy.

Climate management increasingly involves emissions tracking, forecasting, scenario analysis and impact measurement. Tools such as Excel, R, Python, GIS and climate-modelling applications can support that work. The point, however, is not to turn every MBA graduate into a programmer. It is to give managers enough technical fluency to understand how climate data is generated, question its limitations and use it in business decisions.

Leadership and communication are equally important. Climate strategies often involve competing stakeholder interests, difficult trade-offs and decisions whose financial benefits may emerge over longer time horizons.

Business schools need to move from theory to practice

The biggest change Pimpa advocates is pedagogical.

Rather than asking students to write an essay about carbon footprints, a business school could have them assess emissions for a real small or medium-sized company. Instead of discussing greenwashing only through lectures, students could examine corporate sustainability claims and determine whether available evidence supports them.

Simulation-based learning can put students in the position of executives, policymakers, investors or community representatives forced to negotiate competing climate priorities.

That approach aligns with a broader direction in climate education. UNESCO describes climate change education as a way to build the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes needed for climate action, while its curriculum guidance calls for approaches that are action-oriented, holistic and interdisciplinary.

For business schools, that means the classroom increasingly needs to resemble the environment in which graduates will actually work.

Thailand offers a useful test case

Pimpa’s research is particularly relevant to Thailand, where climate exposure intersects with sectors including agriculture, tourism and infrastructure.

His study found that some Thai business programs have introduced sustainability electives, practicums and related courses. But the integration remains inconsistent. Climate change is often treated as an addition to existing MBA structures rather than a factor that should influence core subjects.

The research identified gaps around areas such as climate risk management, carbon accounting, sustainable finance, carbon markets, sustainable supply chains and corporate sustainability reporting.

That matters because business schools are part of the pipeline between public policy and corporate implementation. Governments can establish climate targets and regulatory frameworks, but companies ultimately need managers capable of translating those requirements into investment decisions, operational changes and new business models.

The technology dimension is becoming harder to ignore

Technology will also play a growing role in climate-ready management education.

Business students are likely to encounter software for emissions measurement, ESG data management, climate-risk modelling, supply-chain analytics and scenario planning. AI could eventually make some of these capabilities easier to access, but it also increases the need for managers who can evaluate data quality, assumptions and outputs.

This creates an opportunity for business schools to bring technology, environmental science and management education closer together.

The same principle is visible in UNESCO’s broader approach to education for sustainable development, which increasingly emphasises whole-institution approaches spanning teaching, operations, governance and community engagement.

For MBA programs, the implication is straightforward: climate competence cannot sit entirely with a sustainability specialist while everyone else continues operating under traditional assumptions.

The next generation of managers will need to understand how climate conditions affect the businesses they run — and how business decisions, in turn, affect climate outcomes.

Pimpa’s research makes the case for moving from teaching about climate change to teaching managers how to act on it. That shift could become one of the defining tests of whether business education keeps pace with the economy its graduates are entering.

Market Landscape

The market for climate-focused business skills and sustainability education is developing alongside a broader shift in corporate risk management.

Climate issues increasingly intersect with finance, procurement, supply-chain management, operations, compliance and corporate strategy. That is creating demand for professionals who can translate environmental data into business decisions.

Pimpa’s study of six Thai MBA/MM programs found that sustainability is gaining recognition, but climate-related content remains frequently concentrated in electives or specialised modules rather than being systematically embedded across core disciplines.

That mirrors a larger movement in education policy. UNESCO’s climate education work calls for climate readiness to be integrated into curricula and teacher development rather than treated as an isolated subject. Its 2024 curriculum guidance also advocates action-oriented and interdisciplinary learning.

For business schools, the competitive question may increasingly be whether graduates leave with climate literacy, data literacy and practical decision-making skills, rather than simply a sustainability credential.

Top Insights

• Climate change is becoming a core management issue, requiring MBA graduates to understand physical risks, transition risks, carbon data, regulation and strategic implications.
• Professor Nattavud Pimpa’s CMMU research finds climate education remains unevenly integrated across Thai MBA and Master of Management programs.
• Future managers need a combination of carbon literacy, data skills, systems thinking and leadership capabilities, rather than a narrow understanding of environmental sustainability.
• Business schools can improve job readiness through live projects, simulations, sustainability audits and industry partnerships that connect classroom learning with real climate decisions.
• The growing use of climate analytics, ESG data platforms and AI tools will make interdisciplinary technology and management education increasingly important.

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