Abstract:

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which sets out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has emerged to mobilize efforts to reduce environmental and social risk of disasters. In parallel, many organizations have begun to integrate the concept of sustainability and sustainable development in their activities. In particular, they have integrated the concept of sustainable development into their strategy by managing financial and extra-financial risks.

In this context, higher education system has started a process of strategic reflection on the integration of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in its agenda. With the aim of integrating such sustainability in the university context, it is necessary to transmit to the students the economic, social and environmental needs of our community, and to build informed and responsible professionals in their fields of specialization consistent with sustainability criteria and values. In the field of business management, it is important to integrate into the subjects, the adequate identification of financial but also extra-financial risks (F-ESG risks), their potential effects, and how they should be managed.

For this reason, the main objective of this study is to illustrate real experiences about the introduction of financial, environmental, social and governance risks in innovative learning activities associated with financial subjects. The innovative learning activities has been designed based on the most advanced initiatives regarding the integration of extra-financial risks in the management processes (e.g. COSO and WBCSD, 2018) and based on research frameworks (e.g. Fernández-Izquierdo et al., 2014 ). In this regard, the contribution of this article is twofold. On a one hand, for teachers, these activities represent a clear example about how to bring the results and benefits of research to teaching, and consequently, to spread knowledge in the society. On the other hand, for students, the presented activities will allow to train future leaders in the sustainability field, providing tools to support informed decision-making process which goes beyond the only consideration of financial variables.

References:
[1] COSO and WBCSD (2018) Enterprise Risk Management: Applying Enterprise Risk Management to Environmental, Social and Governance-related Risks.
[2] Fernández-Izquierdo, M. Á., Muñoz-Torres, M. J., & Ferrero-Ferrero, I. (2014). Comprehensive Management and Financial and Extra-financial Risk Control to Overcome the Business Crisis. European Company Law, 11(2), 81-85.

Keywords:

Sustainability, financial, environmental, social and governance (F-ESG) risks, financial subjects, innovative learning experiences in higher education.