New continuing education courses on sustainability reporting and circular economy

2023-07-21 Lüneburg. Two new part-time continuing education courses offered by Leuphana University Lüneburg address the current needs of sustainability-oriented companies. The six-month certificate courses "Sustainability Accounting & Management Control" and "Circular Economy" will start in October. With these programmes, students acquire practical sustainability skills ranging from transparent reporting to circular product design. Applications are still open until 31 August.

From 2025 onwards, around 15,000 companies in Germany will be obliged by EU regulations to publish comprehensive sustainability reports. "This poses great challenges for companies and requires specialised knowledge and corresponding skills," says Leuphana sustainability expert professor Stefan Schaltegger. Against the backdrop of the necessary transformation to a sustainable economy, the new certificate programmes are aimed at professionals from all sectors and organisations. A university entrance qualification and at least one year of professional experience are required.

The Sustainability Accounting & Management Control certificate programme is about holistically recording and presenting the ecological and social sustainability performance of a company. "Students learn to identify both positive and negative contributions of a company to sustainability transformation and deal with how reporting can function in accordance with European and global standards," explains business administration professor Patrick Velte, who is responsible for the programme together with professor Schaltegger. Medium-sized companies in particular still have a lot of catching up to do in this area.

The students in the certificate programme Circular Economy deal with methods and approaches such as eco-design, cradle-to-cradle and design thinking. The aim of the programme is to think about economic activity in a consistently circular way, to use raw materials more efficiently and to make reuse the standard. The programme also focuses on innovative and sustainable business models. The participants should develop their own ideas and discuss them with experts.

In both programmes, the participants learn a variety of methods and tools that are needed for the sustainable development of a company. Within six months, they acquire action-oriented expertise for corporate sustainability management. The programme can be completed flexibly online. This makes it possible to transfer the specialist knowledge directly into everyday working life.

Further information and application:
Certificate in Circular Economy: www.leuphana.de/ze-zirkulaeres-wirtschaften
Certificate Sustainability Accounting and Management Control (Reporting): www.leuphana.de/ze-samc

Press contact:
Benjamin Sachs, Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM), Leuphana University of Lüneburg
Fon: +49(0) 4131.677-2234 | E-Mail: csm-certificates@leuphana.de