Public Value Academy
Sustainability

Sustainability Management & Environment, Social, Governance (ESG) Reporting

“If we have any hope of a thriving planet—much less a thriving business—50 years from now, it is going to take all of us doing what we can with the resources we have.” - Yvon Chouinard

What you will learn

  • Integrate sustainability from day one using tools like the Business Boundaries Canvas to find regenerative opportunities.
  • Design breakthrough impact by turning ideas into Green Swans with the Swan Diagnostic Canvas.
  • Navigate EU sustainability rules like the Green Deal and Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) to meet investor and reporting expectations.


Competences which you will gain

  • Ability to identify and prioritise sustainability opportunities within your business model.
  • Skills to assess and shape ideas for maximum positive impact and scalability.
  • Understanding of key EU sustainability regulations and how to prepare for investor reporting.


About This Course and Your Instructor

First of all, welcome! I don’t know exactly who you are or what you’re working on yet, but I do know this: if you’re here, you’re working toward becoming an entrepreneur who builds something successful for the common good. Like me, your goal is to tackle real societal challenges through the power of business.

My mission in this course is to give you the essentials on sustainability, ESG, and reporting, in a way that’s practical, relevant, and directly useful for your entrepreneurial journey. Hopefully you will make it to the end without getting depressed, if you feel like it after the first two activities, please bear with me I’ll gett you into a more positive mood after!

A bit about me: I’m María Verónica Celis Vergara, but please, call me Vero. I trained as an architect, but I specialised in sustainability long before it was “the cool thing to do.” I started out working on sustainability in the built environment, then expanded into philanthropy, impact entrepreneurship, and sustainability in business. Over the past 15 years, I’ve explored this field from many angles — and if you’re curious, you’ll find my longer bio in the annex.


Structure of the Course

Please consider yourself warned! I’m a complete sustainability nerd and I love this topic. I’ll do my best to keep things as hands-on and clear as possible (and hopefully even a little entertaining).

We’ll go step by step, building your understanding of the big concepts, exploring practical tools and frameworks, and connecting everything back to your business idea. Feel free to check out some of the nerdy rabbit hole sections I left here and there in the footnotes.

If at any point you think something could be explained better, or you want to dive deeper into a topic, I’d love to hear from you, just reach out!

Course Content

4 modules • 14 lectures • 1h 29m total length

Meet the Course Author

VC

Verónica Celis Vergara

CEO and founder of Valumia

Verónica Celis Vergara is a recognized sustainability leader, named an MIT Top Innovator Under 35 and acknowledged as one of Latin America and the Caribbean's top innovator by the Inter-American Development Bank. With a strong foundation as an architect, Verónica holds a Master’s in Landscape and Territorial Design, an MBA, professional certifications in LEED® and GRI, and is a PhD candidate at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management in Leipzig, Germany.  

She is the CEO and founder of Valumia, a platform for sustainability analytics designed to support SMEs and startups in managing their environmental and social impact. 

Before founding Valumia, Verónica co-created EnlightAID, a multi-award-winning Tech4Good company that provided real-time tracking and transparency for donations, working with impactful projects in seven countries. With extensive international experience in project management, she also served as the Chief Sustainability Officer at a German engineering firm specializing in roller coasters. During this time, she published the first sustainability report and metrics addressing the roller coaster industry. 

Born in Chile, Verónica has lived and worked across various countries, bringing a truly global perspective to her work. She is currently based in Barcelona, Spain, where she continues to drive innovative, sustainability-focused solutions in both technology and business. 

 

If you are here and you need any support at any time, feel free to connect with me via LinkedIn or email (at vero@valumia.com). 

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