Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Business
The Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Business (PG Dip) is a Masters-level accredited programme from the University of Cambridge, designed to support those who want to contribute to building a better future for societies through their organisation’s actions.
Business leaders today need to develop bold and pragmatic solutions to the challenges and instability facing them. These solutions should create resilience today and help to build thriving markets of the future. CISL’s PG Dip supports this by bringing Cambridge quality education, expertise from global industry leaders, and mission driven impact together in this accredited postgraduate programme.
Applications for 2026 entry have now closed. Applications for 2027 entry will open in September 2026.
About the Postgraduate Diploma
The Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Business is part of CISL’s mission to empower individuals and organisations to take leadership to tackle critical global challenges.
More specifically, it aims to provide an academically grounded, highly participatory and applied forum for learning around topical sustainability issues, to help professionals develop:
- a strong foundation in wider global social, environmental and economic trends, and the strategic business case for change;
- strategies and suggestions for change based on the latest theoretical and practical developments shaping sustainable practices;
- the knowledge, skills, and confidence to critically engage with a range of strategies and tools for practical action; and
- an ongoing capacity to work with others to co-create solutions to complex problems and to contribute to a wider community of learning and practice.
The PG Dip is completed in two stages and takes a minimum of three years. Stage 1 is the Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business. Stage 2 takes an additional two years of studies, at a more flexible pace. The PG Diploma can be completed as a standalone award or used towards a Masters in Sustainability Leadership via the flexible route.
Curriculum
This course is designed around six interconnected learning outcomes:
- The changing global context, the case for a radical shift from current systems and the role of business
- A sustainable future, and the potential synergies and tensions in achieving it
- Potential levers, leverage points and pathways to achieve change both within and beyond organisations to achieve sustainability
- Personal and collective leadership and effective action as an agent of change
- Sustainability insights, knowledge and research for specific contexts
- Communication and engagement, individually and collaboratively, to advance the sustainability agenda
The following course modules are delivered via a combination of residential workshop teaching and a programme of online learning. This course modules document shows all the modules available across the three stages of the flexible route and the streams students can elect to study on the Diploma stage.
Programme structure
The Postgraduate Diploma (PG Dip) comprises two stages:
PG Dip Stage 1: the 9 month Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business.
PG Dip Stage 2: following successful completion of the Postgraduate Certificate, students move to the 2 year PG Dip Stage 2.
The full PG Diploma takes 3 years to complete if students progress immediately from Stage 1 to Stage 2, but students can elect to take a break between the stages. Each stage of the PG Diploma must be applied for separately and progression is not guaranteed. Students can apply for Stage 2 while completing their Stage 1 studies if they wish to progress immediately.
Read about the key components of the Postgraduate Diploma.
The individual assignments set throughout gave me the opportunity to reflect on the topics that we had learnt and how these could be applied to the real world.
Galina Parmenter
Project Manager, Global Sustainability, C&A
Accreditation and progression options
Successful completion of the course results in a Postgraduate Diploma awarded by the University of Cambridge. This carries 120 CATS points at Level M and is equivalent to two-thirds of a Master's degree.
Following successful completion of the PG Dip, alumni can apply to continue to a full Masters via our Master of Studies in Sustainability Leadership flexible route (Stage 3). This third stage takes an additional 2 years of part-time study. Details of this route are available here.