The engagement report of emlyon business school is the School's annual report on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It accounts for the School's achievements during the year of 2022-2023 in terms of its engagements and the perspectives set for the years ahead. To embody and accomplish its purpose, the School engages a significant budget of 5.2 million-euros and anticipates an increase in the five years to come.

As a mission-driven company (société à mission) since 2021, emlyon business school embodies the figure of a civic organization engaged in the transformation of organizations and professions for the Common Good. The School acts systemically on all the activities of these three lines of actions: training programs, research and operations - based on annual objectives tackled by the School's governance and its Mission Committee.

Our engagements

  • For our training programs: providing programs preparing all generations to act responsibly.

By 2025, 100 % of our students will be trained to address social and environmental issues. As of now, 87% of courses have been redesigned as per the frame of reference “SDGs inside”. This methodology toolkit created by emlyon business school allows to structure the integration of CSR competences and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in its programs. It consists in determining an analytical framework and placing each teaching on a reference scale of 35 CSR competences, weighted against the 17 SDGs, to then push the whole of our teachings towards a complete and global answer to these issues.

The three courses “Act for the planet”, “Sustainable futures”, and “Responsible Engagement Program” have been regrouped in a compulsory track for the Grande Ecole Program: “Act to think, think to act in the Anthropocene”.

To reinforce program hybridization and emphasize the importance of CSR issues, new partnerships were created such as the Bachelor of Science in Data Science for Responsible Business with Centrale Lyon.

  • For our research output: embedding all competences and standpoints in a solid and plural scientific foundation.

Close to 70% of the publications of the emlyon Faculty are already addressing the issues of the School's CSR mission. The 12 research centers and institutes of emlyon business school all contribute to this engagement, by anticipating the changes of our society.

Three new research chairs about company transformation were launched in 2023:

  1. The chair on Anthropocene Strategy with Carbone 4.
  2. The chair on Mental Health of Executive Directors in SMEs-VSBs with Malakoff Humanis.
  3. The chair on Climate Risk and Property Insurance with Groupama Rhône-Alpes Auvergne.
  • For the School's operations: reinforcing its positive impact and anchoring it in an open ecosystem.

Among the principal initiatives implemented in 2023:

  • A new social-based scholarship policy  covering up to 100% of the tuition fees for students with a CROUS Scholarship. 985 students with a CROUS scholarship were provided financial support in 2023
  • Continuing its social inclusion programs developed to remove self-censorship of high-schoolers from Priority Educational Zones and rural areas, allowing them to opt for preparatory classes. More than 9,200 high-school students were supported since these programs have been created in 2006.
  • Creation of the trEMplin support system: : Over 500 scholarship students were mentored by alumni and emlyon staff members, providing them with specific guidance and training in the development of soft skills and public speaking.
  • 173 students with disabilities were supported by emlyon business school in 2022-2023 (showing a strong increase of 86% as compared to 2021-2022). This support was reinforced this year by the partnership with the APICIL Group allowing to provide new actions to raise awareness in inclusion-related issues.
  • The program la toile provides a free qualifying education in digital occupations or young dropouts or people away from employment. 136 participants were trained in 2022 and 2023, with a success rate of 76%.
  • The engagement charter for LGBT+ of the “Autre Cercle” was signed off by the School, reinforcing its engagement in favor of LGBT+ rights and ensuring inclusive study or work environments, considerate and safe for all, through a concrete action plan (training programs, rights to equal treatment and prevention).
  • Thanks to the assessment of its carbon footprint, emlyon identified its principal sources of Green House Gas emissions and mapped out its climate plan by targeting a maximum emission reduction, to contribute to the Net zero by 2030 via four lines of actions: purchasing, mobility, energy and IT.
  • Understanding environmental issues is a necessary prerequisite to taking action: 100 % of emlyon staff members will be trained in social and environmental issues by the end of 2024, thanks to a massive training plan rolled out this year.
  • Lastly, the new emlyon campus is the very incarnation of the School's strategic ambition. It was designed as a living space, where people can meet and be trained, in compliance with the latest environmental standards in terms of construction, respect of biodiversity, energy consumption and operations, favoring soft mobility and enhancing student experience. 
Find out about our engagement report - emlyon business school
The Engagement Report - Complete version About infographics : The engagement of emlyon business school - Key figures
For Bénédicte Bost, Social & Environmental Engagement Director of emlyon business school:

“This report is a summarized illustration of how strong the School's CSR engagement is for the purpose of our mission. This here, is a long-term trajectory and many perspectives are yet to arise. We cannot but salute the collective achievements illustrating the will of emlyon and its stakeholders, to become an organization who has a positive impact on society.”

For Isabelle Huault, Executive President and Dean of emlyon business school:

“The engagement report illustrates concretely what our transformation into a mission-driven company (société à mission) allows. Social and environmental engagement is at the very heart of the strategy of emlyon business school. All aspects of the School are involved, from training programs to research - and obviously, in our daily operations. The issues of planet habitability and solidarity are vital today for our society and our future; that is why I wanted to have the socio-environmental question irrigate all aspects of emlyon business school”.

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About emlyon business school:

Founded in 1872 by the Lyon CCI, emlyon business school has an enrollment of 9,050 students of 125 nationalities over 6 campuses worldwide (Lyon-Ecully, Saint-Etienne, Shanghai, Paris, Bhubaneswar and Mumbai). emlyon draws on a Faculty of 166 international professors and researchers, and a network of 200 global academic partners, to provide learning tracks of excellence opened to the world. emlyon runs a community of 41,700 alumni spread out in 130 countries. As a Société à Mission since July 2021, emlyon's raison d'être consists in: “providing life-long training and support to meaningful individuals able to transform organizations, for a fairer society, with more solidarity and respect for the planet.” In its early makers pedagogy, action and reflection are closely intertwined. Skill hybridization and social responsibility are at the heart of its training programs, where the best of both socio-economic and academic worlds meet.
www.em-lyon.com

Contacts presse

KBZ Corporate pour emlyon :
Laurence Martin - lmartin@kbzcorporate.com - 06 47 69 85 99
Karine Zimeray - kzimeray@kbzcorporate.com - 06 09 15 65 14