Sustainability and Business (Taught)

Learn how to drive positive change in how companies operate, ensuring they thrive while helping address global issues and concerns.

Around the world, businesses are being pressured to rethink and steer their operations towards a new era of sustainability. That’s why corporations large and small are seeking forward-thinking specialists who can understand the challenges of conducting business sustainably – and solve them.

Our Sustainability and Business MSc prepares you to create, develop and reinvent sustainable enterprises. You’ll learn what shapes the relationships between business, environment and society, and how individuals and organisations can address social and environmental problems effectively.

You’ll build a specialist yet practical skill set, in everything from developing ideas for sustainable ventures to pitching to investors. This gives you the industry experience employers are searching for and the crucial skills needed if you wish to start your own business.

If you have a positive vision of the future, this course will give you the tools to push the limits of sustainable innovation in business.

"University of Leeds was a no-brainer once I had selected the programme that I wanted to enrol in."

Clemens (Tsz Chun Clemens Yuen), MSc Sustainability and Business

Why study at Leeds

• Expert tutors: Learn from academics who have led the field for over ten years from the Sustainability Research Institute – one of the largest academic groups of sustainability experts in the world – and members of Business and Organisations for Sustainable Societies (BOSS) – a leading business and sustainability research group.

• Recognised research: Explore the most pressing environmental challenges from the impactful research conducted across five world-leading institutes within our School of Earth and Environment as well as sustainable business innovations, all of which feed directly into your course.

• Think like a sustainable innovator: Advance your knowledge and skills in key areas, such as how sustainability leads business practice, and practise research and approaches relating to environmental management and corporate social responsibility.

• Your course, your choice: Tailor your degree to suit your interests, with a range of optional modules that will support your career aspirations.

• Excellent career potential: Enhance your career prospects and join our successful alumni who have pursued careers with organisations such as Ove Arup & Partners, Highways England, EcoTree France, Deloitte, The Growth Company, Keepmoat, UK Department for Transport, and the Waste & Resources Action Programme.

• A hub for sustainability: Leeds is one of the leading cities in the UK for sustainability action. You can use your time to learn more about how local businesses, organisations and communities put sustainability into practice.

Rankings and awards

• Top 100 in the world, QS World University Rankings 2026

• Top 40 in the world for Environmental Sciences, QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026

Where this degree could take you

Here’s a snapshot of just some of the roles that our sustainability graduates have secured:

• Sustainability Project Manager, City of York Council

• Japan Analyst, Argus Media Limited

• Sustainability Consultant, Gleeds

• Sustainability and Wellbeing Manager, Workman LLP

• Environment Specialist, Lamborghini

• Research Assistant, University of Leeds

Careers support

Top 10 most targeted for 10+ years by the UK's leading employers, The Graduate Market 2026, High Fliers Research

At Leeds, we help you to prepare for your future from day one.

Our Careers Service has the global expertise and sector-spanning industry partnerships that, combined, go way beyond simply helping you get a job. They provide you with the resources you need to upskill and achieve the future you aspire towards – even in the face of lightning-paced change.

You will be assessed through a variety of ways including both written and oral assignments and exams.