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EADA Business School has joined the Barcelona+B initiative alongside Barcelona City Council, B Lab Spain and Ferrer to create a more prosperous, sustainable and inclusive city. This initiative, which is the first in Spain, seeks to improve the social and environmental impact of companies and citizens in Barcelona, making them the primary agents of change and positive transformation. Its main aim is for companies, universities, foundations, public institutions, entrepreneurs and citizens to work together to promote Barcelona as one of the world’s new leading cities for its contribution to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at a local level.

Barcelona+B is part of the global network of Cities CAN B (Cuidades+B), which is already active in cities such as Santiago (Chile), Mendoza (Argentina), Asunción (Paraguay), Río de Janeiro (Brazil) and Edinburgh (the United Kingdom). Barcelona has joined this worldwide movement to mobilise hundreds of thousands of citizens and organisations to contribute to the SDGs and improve the cities they live in. The initiative has already received support from numerous organisations that are actively collaborating in the dissemination and development of this project. These include: Acció, Barcelona Centre de Disseny, B Academics Spain, Barcelona Global, Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Comunidad B Catalunya, Impact Hub Barcelona, Netmentora and Ship2B Foundation.

As Federica Massa-Saluzzo, Strategy Professor and Director of the EADA Master’s programmes in Sustainability explained during the presentation of the project, “becoming a strategic partner of Barcelona+B has reaffirmed the business school’s commitment to sustainability, helping to make Barcelona one of the global capitals of the SDGs”.

EADA, a business school with a purpose and a commitment to sustainability

This commitment dates back to 2017 when EADA became the first business school in Spain to launch a full-time Master’s programme in Sustainability. The Master in Sustainable Business & Innovation is a programme designed for graduates from diverse cultures and backgrounds who want to help businesses and organisations solve urgent and emerging challenges relating to the environment, the economy, society, and well-being on a global scale. Since then, it has increased its portfolio with three new sustainability programmes for graduates, middle and senior management profiles:

• Postgraduate in Sustainable Transformation: This programme approaches sustainability as a transversal element in any strategic decision that creates an impact on a business. It provides the participant with the tools and competencies to move a business model towards sustainability.
• Online Master in Sustainable Business and Innovation: This pioneering programme enables the participant to understand how business, sustainability and innovation interact. A blended course is offered, which combines flexible online training with a F2F module oriented to the development of management and leadership skills through experiential learning.
• Senior Management Programme in Sustainability, designed for board members and senior managers to help them lead the strategic change of a company and become an agent of environmental and social sustainability, effectively managing risk and ensuring economic sustainability within the framework of the objectives of Paris Agreement.

EADA Business School uses its own model of sustainable and responsible leadership to promote a set of values and practices among its participants, Alumni community, companies and institutions which are based on a positive social and environmental impact. This model of leadership is used to prepare professionals and organisations to achieve these values through the analysis of case studies that generate debate around current social and environmental issues. EADA is also present in the rankings and volunteers to be assessed by new ratings and rankings that analyse our impact as a business school for the world such as the Positive Impact Rating and the Better World Ranking MBA. 

EADA works in partnership with both international and national organisations that create a positive social impact, forming part of the B Corp community: a movement that includes over 4,500 companies worldwide that are involved in the transformation of the economy and business success based on the well-being of people, communities and the planet. EADA’s programme of grants and scholarships also helps talented professionals to realize their purpose by providing access to training opportunities to those who need it the most.

EADA hosts its first Barcelona+B event

Barcelona+B has programmed a series of activities and initiatives to respond to the main social and environmental challenges facing the city. On 3rd May, EADA hosted an event at its Barcelona City Centre campus to begin building the sustainable, inclusive and prosperous city Barcelona aims to become. The day kicked off with a round table discussion moderated by Katia Dumont, Regional Organiser for Southwestern Europe at the BMW Foundation and with participation from EADA’s Dean, Jordi Díaz. He highlighted how the Barcelona+B movement is aligned with the business school’s commitment to sustainable and responsible leadership: “We firmly believe in the multiplier effect that current and future business professionals can create in society through new leadership”.

Other attendees included Jaume Baró, Business Services Director at Barcelona Activa who emphasised the “need for all companies to integrate social policies into their business strategy and look beyond profits,” and Pablo Sánchez, Executive Director of B Lab Spain, who stated that “we can only change society through collaboration and citizen participation”. Leonardo Maldonado, Co-founder and Executive Director of Ciudades+B, explained that “the United Nation’s 17 SDGs are the biggest challenges facing humanity and require a rapid response to create synergies between all stakeholders in society”.

The Barcelona+B event also featured a plenary session on corporate activism and business purpose, organised by Marta Anglada, Head of Sustainability at Ferrer, and Silvia Agulló, Director of Responsible Business and Reputation at Grupo DKV. There was also successful participation at the four workshops which were held simultaneously: the first workshop on education and companies was led by Federica Massa-Saluzzo, Director of the Master in Sustainable Business and Innovation at EADA and Verónica Devenin, member of the academic board of B Academics; B Lab Spain and Multiplicadores B organised the second workshop on the Barcelona Impact Lab and the companies that transform cities; Lucas Rosso, People Consultant at Ethikos ran the third workshop on equality and inclusion and the BMW Foundation organised the fourth workshop on emerging activism.