If you’re someone who is even moderately concerned about the environment and the long-term impacts of global climate change, the outcome of the 2024 election undoubtedly filled you with dread. There’s nothing about the policies and preferences of the 45th and soon to be 47th president to reassure anyone who prefers clean air and water over coal smoke and toxic soup, let alone the devastating consequences of a warming planet for weather, crops, and sea level.
The first Trump administration was a preview of sorts: within weeks of taking office, the administration started rolling back regulations protecting wildlife, cutting carbon emissions, and limiting water pollution. The U.S. pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement, forgoing even those modest climate change goals.
This time around promises to be even worse:
- Expansion of fossil fuel production in the United States
- Repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act, doing away with EV tax credits and killing wind turbine and solar power projects
- Allies have pushed to eliminate Department of Energy programs offering loans for projects designed to cut carbon emissions and pollution
- Project 2025, a conservative proposal whose authors are finding government roles in the new administration, called for eliminating monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions, doing away with atmospheric research, and gutting NOAA’s fisheries monitoring programs
If your goals combine environmental concerns and capitalism, though, there’s a place where your hope can survive and even thrive: California.
California is a Place Where Environmentalism and Business Find Common Ground
California hosts some of the most amazing natural wonders of the United States, from the heights of Yosemite to the stark majesty of the Grand Canyon. You can’t live here without getting caught up in some kind of activity that takes advantage of a thriving and sparkling environment.
Whether you are out surfing after class or spend your weekends hiking the High Sierra, attending business school in California opens up all kinds of outdoor adventure opportunities.
At the same time, the state is a booming center for finance and industry. It hosts the fifth largest economy in the world, and represents nearly 15 percent of America’s gross domestic product. It’s the number one state in the country for new business starts and access to venture capital funding, while playing host to more of the Fortune 500 than any other state.
That’s a combination that is a motivating force for anyone seeking an MBA in California who also appreciates the wonders of the natural world.
You will find it reflected at many of the most prestigious business schools at the state. The Marshall Outdoor Club at USC gives MBA students a chance to get active in the environment; the Outdoor Adventure Club at Anderson drops business students on SCUBA trips to Catalina and down the slopes at Big Bear. And, of course, every California university has similar clubs outside of their business schools that MBA candidates can join.
But the real magic is that you don’t have to keep your green inclinations separate from your business aspirations here.
California Already Offers Some of the Best Business Sustainability Studies in the Country
With that combination of commerce and scenery, it’s only natural that California’s business schools offer some of the best environmentally-focused MBA programs in the country. These are forward-looking business schools that are fueling the innovation in sustainability coming from startups in fields like:
- Waste management and recycling - San Diego’s Hydrova puts the byproducts of aluminum recycling to use creating green hydrogen
- Solar power - Aurora Solar puts solar systems design in the hands of AI to reduce up-front project costs and speed installation
- Electric vehicles - Tesla needs no introduction as the prime mover behind the electric vehicle craze in the U.S. and beyond
- Plastic waste cleanup - Novoloop is hard at work in Menlo Park putting together bacteria that will digest plastic waste currently clogging the environment
It’s notable that all these startups and more are thriving, and even outpacing the rest of the country, despite operating in an environment regularly derided as being hostile to business. California’s green economy is beating the drill-baby-drill crowd like Travis Barker going to work on his drum kit. And it’s doing it with the drive and intellect of graduates from green MBA programs across the state.
Anderson hosts the Outdoor Adventure Club to enjoy the environment today, but also the Energy and Cleantech Association for future executives dedicated to preserving that environment for tomorrow.
- University of Redlands Presidio Graduate School offers an MBA in Sustainable Solutions that integrates rigorous management theory with sustainability, social justice, and environmental stewardship.
- Woodbury University’s School of Business has built their entire MBA program around responsible leadership and sustainable business practices, but also offers a Sustainability concentration that doubles down on green business.
- Alliant International University offers a Bright Green MBA program that takes the core business principles and weaves in foundations of sustainability, changing mindsets around green operations, and building strategies and business cases for sustainable practices.
- Meridian University’s MBA in Creative Enterprise has a track designed to prepare graduates for professional futures in social entrepreneurship, including in green business.
- Claremont Lincoln University, one of our unique master’s degrees in business that don’t quite fit the mold, has a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership with a sustainability concentration that applies interdisciplinary study to developing leadership for socially responsible business initiatives.
A number of these are even available online, so even if you aren’t able to relocate and enjoy California’s natural wonders first-hand, you can still take advantage of the ideal educational environment to learn how to protect them.
Scholastic Freedom and a Thriving Green Economy Make California the Clear Choice for Sustainable MBA Studies
This was all true even before 2024. But these are qualities that add up to the last real chance for unbiased green business education in the United States… and public and private sector jobs to put that education to use after graduation.
Although a second Trump administration is intent on gutting environmental protections and turning off the lights on clean energy, it’s not going to be that easy in California.
The state has an economic engine that gives it real heft in environmental policy even apart from federal rules and initiatives. As the rest of the country watches protections collapse as the EPA is gutted, California will continue to forge ahead in sustainable business.
California is a uniquely empowering place to pursue a green MBA, particularly in the wake of the 2024 elections.
There’s some reason to believe the Golden State will strike gold in such efforts. By some calculations, the first Trump administration lost over 80 percent of the court cases filed over its attempts to roll back environmental regulations.
Moreover, California isn’t likely to fall prey to the authoritarian impulses taking hold in states like Florida, where schools are discouraged from teaching inconvenient truths. Climate change isn’t a hoax here in California. Business schools are free to teach students the strategies needed to cope with it.
California Businesses are Set to Thrive Under a Concentration of Sustainability Measures
It’s also true that the state represents such a significant chunk of some markets that it can establish its own terms with respect to sustainability, entirely apart from federal standards. For example, the state did its own deal with major auto manufacturers in 2019, defying Trump threats to roll back federal emissions standards. Since no car company is going to make one model for sale in California and another for the rest of the country, it effectively dictated terms for emissions nationwide.
This all plays into a business reality that Trump doesn’t understand, but that green MBA graduates know in their bones: stability can be more beneficial for business than regulatory whipsaw, even if the regulations are burdensome for those businesses. More importantly, sustainability is vital for a career and a future if you’re not 78 and entering what is probably the last job of your life.
Graduates from these degrees will continue to find both American and international businesses hungry for the sustainability skills they develop. With California’s regulatory and educational structures primed to deal with environmental issues, the demand for skilled MBA graduates from our business schools is sure to surge when reality comes knocking.