Centre for Social and Sustainable Innovation
The Centre for Social and Sustainable Innovation (CSSI) at the Gustavson School of Business helps employees, students and community partners integrate regenerative sustainability and social responsibility into everything they do. From research and teaching to daily operations, we offer practical support to meet the school’s commitment to the United Nations (UN) Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) and to integrate the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into everything we do.Regeneration
Doing no harm is no longer enough. Our life-supporting ecosystems and communities need to be restored and revitalized. Regenerative sustainability means aiming for net-positive environmental, social and economic outcomes. CSSI recognizes that we need to give more to the world than we take.
Mission and values
Our goal at CSSI is to be a leading research centre for regenerative sustainability that inspires and enables business to transform economies, strengthen communities and revitalize ecosystems. Our work towards achieving this goal is guided by 4 priorities.
Sustainability in the classroom
- collect SDG data in courses
- create sustainability-focused teaching resources
- host sustainability-focused student events
- develop lesson plans for the SDGs
Sustainability in research
- host visiting scholars and PhD students
- recruit and support postdoctoral fellows
- support regenerative sustainability in research
- collaborate with CSSI fellows
Sustainability in our community
- connect researchers and students with business and community leaders
- work with our advisory board to advance Gustavson's vision of regenerative sustainability
Sustainability on campus
- implement annual carbon reporting
- develop strategies to reduce carbon
- promote SDGs at Gustavson
- support the UVic Sustainability Office and others on campus with sustainability initiatives
Carbon Offset Pitch Competition
Students across Gustavson are encouraged to submit a portfolio of 1-5 carbon offset projects from a list of 16 pre-approved projects and portfolios for the school to support.
Learn more about this year's winning team.
Stories & events
Sustainability timeline
2003: required sustainability course
2010: annual report on GHG emissions
2011: launch of CSSI
2017: carbon neutral
2018: Carbon Offset Competition
2020: MBA in Sustainable Innovation
Contact us
Interested in learning more about our work? Connect with our office: