Publications & Resources

Center for Sustainable Business | Publications & Resources

CSB Research

Publications & Resources

Explore our original research on how sustainability strategies can improve business management and performance while addressing societal challenges.

Featured Publications

View CSB's recently published work, or find a full list below

The Business Case for Zero Waste to Landfill by 2030

Read the Case Study

Invest NYC SDG: Global Change Begins at Home

Read the Roadmap

Unleashing Sustainable Value in Food and Agriculture

Read the Report

CSB Publications

Explore our original research on how embedding sustainability core to business strategy can improve business management and performance.

Article Title	Publication	Industry	Publication Date
Responsible AI: An Overview of the Current Business Landscape & Voluntary Frameworks	Research Report: NYU Stern CSB	General/Other	May 2025
The B2B Opportunity in Corporate Sustainability	MIT Sloan Management Review	General/Other	July 2025
The Business Case for Zero Waste to Landfill by 2030: Working with Owens Corning's Fiberglass Insulation Business	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	General/Other	May 2025
Natra Case Study: Measuring the Financial Return on Sustainability Investment in the Chocolate Industry	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	Food and Agriculture	Nov 2024
Milestone: The Business Case for Decarbonization of Oil & Gas Waste Management--A Case Study on Slurry Injection	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	General/Other	Nov 2024
Unleashing Sustainable Value in Food and Agriculture	NYU Stern CSB and Deloitte	Food and Agriculture	Oct 2024
The Business Case for Partnering with Farmers in Regenerative Agriculture - A Beef Cattle Case Study	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	Food and Agriculture	Apr 2024
Gore Mutual Insurance Company: Building Resilience in the Eye of the Storm	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	General/Other	Feb 2024
Cardinal Health: Optimizing Last-Mile Pharmaceutical Delivery	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	Healthcare	Mar 2024
Advocate Health: A Case Study on Switching from Single Use to Reprocessed Medical Devices	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	Healthcare	Jan 2024
The Business Case for Decarbonization of a Healthcare Delivery System-- A Case Study on Energy Management with Gundersen Health Systems	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	Healthcare	Jan 2024
What We Measure Today Does Not Matter When It Comes to Jobs	NYU Stern CSB	General/Other	April 2023
Ingredion Case Study: The Business Case for Biocontrol Use	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	Food and Agriculture	Jan 2023
The Business Case for Sustainable Beer – Anheuser-Busch	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	Food and Agriculture	Jan 2023
Finding the Return on Sustainable Investments	Journal of Financial Transformations	General/Other	Nov 2022
Hero: The Business Case for Sustainable Farming to Improve Biodiversity	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	Food and Agriculture	Dec 2022
The Role of Private Equity in the Decline of a Major Forest Products Company	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	General/Other	Dec 2021
The Business Case for Circularity at Reformation	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	Apparel	Jun 2021
How to Talk to Your CFO about Sustainability	Harvard Business Review	General/Other	Feb 2021
Financial benefits of reimagined, sustainable, agrifood supply networks	Journal of International Business Policy	Food and Agriculture	Feb 2021
The Business Case for Sustainable Apparel at EILEEN FISHER	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	Apparel	Jan 2021
#OptOutside REI: Employee Wellbeing and Financial Outcomes	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	Apparel	Nov 2020
Existence inductive theory building to study coordination failures in sustainable beef production	Journal of Cleaner Production	Food and Agriculture	Sept 2020
Making a Better Business Case for ESG	Stanford Social Innovation Review	General/Other	Aug 2020
Using the Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI) Framework to Value Accelerated Decarbonization	Journal of Applied Corporate Finance	General/Other	Jun 2020
Sustainable Procurement Barometer 2019	NYU Stern CSB and EcoVadis	General/Other	Jul 2019
The Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI): Monetizing Financial Benefits of Sustainability Actions in Companies	Interdisciplinary Journal on Risk and Society	General/Other	Jun 2019
Innovating a New Business Model for Electric Utilities: ConEd's Brooklyn & Queens Demand Management Project	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	Energy/Utility	Jan 2019
How to Quantify Sustainability’s Impact on Your Bottom Line	Harvard Business Review	General/Other	Sept 2017
Deforestation-free Supply Chains: Financial Impact for Brazilian Beef Production	NYU Stern CSB	Food and Agriculture	Aug 2017
Sustainability and Effective Supply Chain Management: A Literature Review of Sustainable Supply Chain Management	NYU Stern CSB	General/Other	Apr 2017
Kashi: Growing the Supply Chain for Organic Food	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	Food and Agriculture	Apr 2017
The Comprehensive Business Case for Sustainability	Harvard Business Review	General/Other	Oct 2016
The Sustainability Business Case for the 21st Century Corporation	NYU Stern CSB	General/Other	Oct 2016
Nike: Sustainability and Innovation through Flyknit Technology	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	Apparel	Aug 2016
Nespresso: Supply Chain and Stakeholder Engagement Case Study	Case Study: NYU Stern CSB	Food and Agriculture	May 2016

Article Title	Publication	Publication Date
Sustainability Value Creation: a framework for driving financial value through sustainability in private markets	UN PRI	July 2025
Banking on Climate: The Mortgage Lending Opportunity in Building Decarbonization	NYU Stern CSB	Dec 2024
Green Finance Innovation: How Mortgage Lenders Can Drive NYC Building Decarbonization	NYU Stern CSB	Mar 2024
Financing Mechanisms to Support Sustainable Practices	NYU Stern CSB	Nov 2023
The Road to Responsible Private Equity	NYU Stern CSB	Feb 2023
Do Corporate Sustainability and Sustainable Finance Generate Better Financial Performance?	Journal of Sustainable Finance and Investment	Jul 2022
How to Bring ESG into the Quarterly Earnings Call	MIT Sloan Management Review	May 2021
Embedding Sustainability Performance and Long‐Term Strategy in the Earnings Call	Journal of Applied Corporate Finance	Jun 2020
Green Bonds: What's New, What's Next, and Why Does it Matter?	NYU Stern CSB	Dec 2019
Responsible Investing: Guide to ESG Data Providers and Relevant Trends	Journal of Environmental Investing	Sept 2017
Parnassus Investments: A Contrarian, Socially Responsible Mutual Fund Manager	NYU Stern CSB	Sept 2017
Citigroup, Inc.: Innovation in Energy Efficiency Financing	NYU Stern CSB	May 2017

Article Title	Publication	Date
Sustainable Product Profit Potential and Availability	Journal of Marketing	May 2025
2025 Sustainable Market Share Index	NYU Stern CSB	Mar 2025
Effective Environmental Sustainability Communications: A best practice guide for marketers	NYU Stern CSB and Edelman	Jun 2023
Green Chemistry: A Strong Driver of Innovation, Growth, and Business Opportunity	NYU Stern CSB	Oct 2021
Sustainable Purchasing Patterns and Consumer Responsiveness to Sustainability Marketing Messages	Journal of Sustainability Research	Mar 2020
Avery Dennison: Innovative Marketing of Sustainability Attracts More Loyal Customers	NYU Stern CSB	Apr 2017

Article Title	Publication	Date
How to Improve ISSB/SASB Reporting to Drive Better Societal and Financial Performance	NYU Stern CSB	Oct 2025
Evaluating the Effectiveness of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in Driving Sustainability Outcomes and Improved Financial Performance	NYU Stern CSB	Oct 2025
Boards Better Prepared in 2024 for Tackling Financial Material Sustainability Issues but Major Weaknesses Persist	NYU Stern CSB	Feb 2024
Practitioners' Guide to Embedding Sustainability	NYU Stern CSB	Mar 2023
ESG Reports Aren't a Replacement for Real Sustainability	Harvard Business Review	July 2022
How to Bring ESG into the Quarterly Earnings Call	MIT Sloan Management Review	May 2021
Research Frontiers in the Era of Embedding Sustainability: Bringing Social & Environmental Systems to the Forefront	Journal of Sustainability Research	Feb 2021
The cultural consensus of sustainability-driven innovation: Strategies for success	Business Strategy and the Environment	July 2020
ESG & the Earnings Call: Communicating Sustainable Value Creation	NYU Stern CSB	Jun 2020
Sustainability Materiality Matrices Explained	NYU Stern CSB	May 2019
Shareholders Are Stealing Our Jobs	NYU Stern CSB	Oct 2018
SASB-Bloomberg Alignment Report	NYU Stern CSB	Apr 2017
Sustainability Assessment Tools	NYU Stern CSB	Jan 2017
Spotlight: Water Business Tools for Managing Water Resources and Risk	NYU Stern CSB	Sept 2016

Article Title	Publication	Date
Advancing Food Finance to Increase Access to Healthy, Affordable Food: A roadmap for implementation	NYU Stern CSB	Oct 2025
Banking on Climate: The Mortgage Lending Opportunity in Building Decarbonization	NYU Stern CSB	Dec 2024
FoodMapNY: Leveraging Private-Sector Innovation and Investment for Food Security	NYU Stern CSB	Nov 2024
Will Banks Start Putting Their Money Where Their Properties Are?	NYU Stern CSB	Jun 2024
Green Finance Innovation: How Mortgage Lenders Can Drive NYC Building Decarbonization	NYU Stern CSB	Mar 2024
Global Change Begins at Home: Advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals in NYC	NYU Stern CSB	Jun 2023
Invest NYC SDG: A Finance White Paper, Models for Financing the UN Sustainable Development Goals	NYU Stern CSB	Mar 2021
Catalyzing Green Infrastructure on Private Property: Recommendations for a Green, Equitable, and Sustainable New York City	NYU Stern CSB	Aug 2017

CSB in the News

Center for Sustainable Business

— September 28, 2026

Projective Group Institute: Is ESG Reporting Data Fit for Purpose?

In the Projective Group Institute Journal of Financial Services, Tensie Whelan , Senior Advisor at the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, highlights the inherent tension in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting: ESG reporting metrics generally do not measure outcomes, they…
Read more about Projective Group Institute: Is ESG Reporting Data Fit for Purpose?
Center for Sustainable Business

— August 31, 2026

The CPA Journal: Sustainability Accounting—Driving Better Returns Through Better Business

In a piece for The CPA Journal, our Founding Director, Tensie Whelan, explores the essential role finance teams can play in assessing the full financial value of sustainability strategies. By tracking outcomes such as avoided costs, risk mitigation, employee retention, innovation, and future sales…
Read more about The CPA Journal: Sustainability Accounting—Driving Better Returns Through Better Business
Center for Sustainable Business

— May 22, 2026

Trellis: 3 things sustainability professionals can’t afford to outsource to AI

Amy Skoczlas Cole, the director of the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, breaks down what we cannot afford to turn over to AI in an article for Trellis. Key Takeaways: AI agents trained on outdated models won’t just overlook sustainability value; they will optimize against the identified…
Read more about Trellis: 3 things sustainability professionals can’t afford to outsource to AI
Center for Sustainable Business

— May 8, 2026

Trellis: Demystifying the ‘say-do’ gap in sustainable product purchases

Companies have long complained about the “say-do gap”: Consumers say they want to buy sustainable products and that they’re willing to pay a premium, but don’t actually do so. Yet NYU Stern's Center for Sustainable Business' latest research shows a different say-do gap: consumers are buying, but…
Read more about Trellis: Demystifying the ‘say-do’ gap in sustainable product purchases
Center for Sustainable Business

— April 14, 2026

ImpactAlpha: How LPs can better assess sustainability-linked value creation

The NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, or CSB, has researched the Return on Sustainability Investment, or ROSI, for a decade, working across industries and asset classes. We have consistently found that sustainability can drive significant value across the value chain. Through hundreds of…
Read more about ImpactAlpha: How LPs can better assess sustainability-linked value creation

View all News and Insights

Publications & Resources

Featured Publications

The Business Case for Zero Waste to Landfill by 2030

Invest NYC SDG: Global Change Begins at Home

Unleashing Sustainable Value in Food and Agriculture

CSB Publications

Sustainability-Linked Value Creation in Corporations

Sustainability-Linked Value Creation for Investors

Insights into Consumer Demand for Sustainable Products

Embedding Sustainability: Governance, Strategy, and Reporting

Leveraging Private-Public Partnerships for Sustainable Development

CSB in the News

Projective Group Institute: Is ESG Reporting Data Fit for Purpose?

The CPA Journal: Sustainability Accounting—Driving Better Returns Through Better Business

Trellis: 3 things sustainability professionals can’t afford to outsource to AI

Trellis: Demystifying the ‘say-do’ gap in sustainable product purchases

ImpactAlpha: How LPs can better assess sustainability-linked value creation