University of Technology Sydney academic appointed to lead national climate plan for Australia's business schools

SYDNEY, Nov. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Associate Professor Melissa Edwards of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Business School has been selected by the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) to help business schools around Australia take action on climate change.

In her new position as inaugural Climate Action Fellow, Professor Edwards will coordinate the transformation of Australia's business education in line with the organisation's Declaration on Climate Action.

The ABDC is the collective voice of all Australian business schools. The organisation established the Declaration on Climate Action in April 2022, committing to develop education and research standards focusing on business responses to climate change. 

According to ABDC president Professor Keryn Chalmers, the position of Climate Action Fellow was created to coordinate the ABDC's approach to climate action. 

"This involves identifying opportunities to collaborate on educating the next generation of business leaders on the importance of a net zero future, policy research and business responses to ensure sustainable development," she says.

As the director of the Executive Master of Business Administration programs at UTS, Professor Edwards has worked extensively to co-develop and manage innovative higher education programs focusing on sustainable business models.

"Climate action should be business as usual for business schools and their students who want to understand and be able to use their professions to reverse, mitigate and adapt to climate change," she says.

Professor Carl Rhodes, Dean of UTS Business School, praises Edwards' appointment.

"She has taken a leading role in bringing together colleagues to collaboratively develop the UTS Business School's climate action plan, our statement on climate action, and working across UTS to further our commitment to sustainability," he says.

UTS Business School is committed to acting on climate change and acknowledges its responsibility to prevent further climate crises. This includes implementing climate-positive strategies, frameworks for physical transition climate risk analytics and nature-based and innovative technological solutions for adaptive challenges.

The University of Technology Sydney is a leading university of technology, ranked 15th in the world and 2nd in Australia in the 2022 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which assesses universities against the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Discover UTS Business School, a socially committed business school focused on developing and sharing knowledge for an innovative, sustainable and prosperous economy.