Undergraduate Concentration

IVSB: Impact, Value, and Sustainable Business

Starting in the 2026-2027 academic year, Wharton undergraduate students can declare a concentration in Impact, Value, and Sustainable Business (IVSB).

The concentration in Impact, Value and Sustainable Business (IVSB) is designed to provide in-depth foundations for those interested in how business activities affect natural, human, and social capital – and how these impacts influence risk, opportunity, and sustainable business performance. After graduation, students concentrating in IVSB will be well equipped to shape strategy, innovation, valuations, investment flows, and policy.

There is a strong need for a new generation of expert business leaders who understand the rapidly evolving trends in business models, technology, regulation, and financing with implications for the environment and society as a whole. Students choosing the IVSB concentration are therefore ideally suited for the ever-expanding set of careers in many fields. Relevant courses are offered by departments including Accounting, Business Economics and Public Policy, Finance, Legal Studies and Business Ethics, Management, Marketing, and Operations Information and Decisions.

Requirements and Specializations

Each track of the IVSB concentration is fulfilled by completing 4.0 credit units (cu) of coursework from the list of courses approved for the concentration, as set forth in more detail below.

In addition to the option of having an IVSB concentration without specialization, IVSB concentrators may choose to earn one of two transcript-level specializations—Business, Energy, Environment and Sustainability (BEES) or Social and Governance (SOGO)—by completing at least 3.0 credit units (cu) of their required coursework in their focused area as set forth below. Accordingly, the three options for students are:

Option 1

Concentrate in Impact, Value, and Sustainable Business (IVSB)

Take four credit units (4 cu) from the list of courses approved for the concentration, with at least two credit units (2 cu) from the Environmental list.

Option 2

Concentrate in Impact, Value, and Sustainable Business (IVSB) with a Specialization in Business, Energy, Environment and Sustainability (BEES)

Take at least three credit units (3 cu) from the Environmental list and up to one credit unit (1 cu) from the overall list of courses approved for the concentration (whether Environmental or Social and Governance).

Option 3

Concentrate in Impact, Value, and Sustainable Business (IVSB) with a Specialization in Social and Governance (SOGO)

Take at least three credit units (3 cu) from the Social and Governance list and up to one credit unit (1 cu) from the overall list of courses approved for the concentration (whether Environmental or Social and Governance).

Questions?

If you are a current Wharton student, contact Sara Jane McCaffrey at mcsa@wharton.upenn.edu.

If you are interested in applying to Wharton, contact the Undergraduate Admissions Office at +1.215.898.7507 or visit admissions.upenn.edu.

Additional Information

This concentration is jointly administered by the Business Economics and Public Policy Department, the Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department, and the Management Department. The faculty advisors to this concentration are Professors Arthur van Benthem (BEPP), Witold (Vit) Henisz (MGMT), and Sarah E. Light (LGST).

Helpful Links

For more information about resources at Wharton and the University of Pennsylvania more broadly on climate, energy, environment, and sustainability, please click here.

Wharton’s STEM Concentrations

Interested in a STEM-certified business degree? This concentration is designated as a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics concentration, which helps students excel in high-demand roles that require both business and technical acumen.

Our STEM concentrations offer another benefit for international students, who can obtain a STEM OPT extension for their F-1 visa after graduation. The extension allows students to apply the skills they learned in their STEM degree studies in full-time employment in the U.S. If you choose one of these concentrations, you will be eligible for 36 months of post-completion OPT (compared to 12 months for a non-STEM major).

Undergraduate students must take four credit units from the following list of courses

Environmental

  • ACCT/BEPP 2640 – Climate and Financial Markets
  • BEPP /FNCE/OIDD 2610 – Climate Risks and Opportunities
  • BEPP/OIDD 2630 – Environmental & Energy Economics and Policy
  • LGST 2150 – Environmental Management: Law & Policy
  • LGST 2600 – Climate and Environmental Leadership in Action
  • MGMT 8970 – GMC on Sustainability (in Germany) (by application)
  • OIDD 5250 – Thinking with Models: Business Analytics for Energy & Sustainability

Social & Governance

  • ACCT 2700 – Forensic Analytics
  • BEPP 2010 – Public Finance & Policy
  • BEPP/FNCE/REAL 2300 – Urban Fiscal Policy
  • FNCE 2540 – ESG & Impact Investing
  • FNCE 4020 – Corporate Governance and Shareholder Activism[1]
  • LGST 2020 – Law of Corporate Management & Finance
  • LGST 2080 – Employment Law
  • LGST 2160 – Emerging Economies
  • LGST 2180 – Diversity & the Law
  • LGST 2190 – Securities Regulation
  • LGST 2200 – International Business Ethics
  • LGST 2240 – Human Rights & Globalization
  • LGST 2260 – Markets, Morality & Capitalism
  • LGST 2300 – Social Impact & Responsibility
  • LGST 2420 – Big Data Big Responsibility
  • LGST 2430 – Other People’s Money
  • MGMT 2090 – Political and Social Environment of the Multinational Firm
  • MGMT 2120 – Social Entrepreneurship
  • MGMT 2240 – Leading Across Cultural and Relational Differences
  • MGMT 2410 – Knowledge for Social Impact
  • MGMT 2420 – Corporate Governance
  • MKTG 3530 – Special Topics: The Business of Wellness: Marketing and Consumption

[1] FNCE 4020 is 1.0 credit course; however, if students take this to fulfill their capstone requirement, which is 0.5 credit units, they may only count 0.5 credit units toward their concentration.

Students may replace up to one credit of coursework from the above-listed courses with a course from this pre-approved list of courses outside of Wharton that bears a clear relationship to the core of the concentration.

Pre-approved Non-Wharton Courses

  • CBE 5050: Carbon Capture
  • EAS 3010/5010: Climate Policy and Technology
  • EAS 3060/5060: Electricity Systems and Markets
  • EAS 4020/5020: Renewable Energy and its Impacts
  • EAS 5050: Climate Policy and Technology
  • ENMG 5120 Energy Geopolitics
  • ENMG 5400: Clean Energy Deployment to Achieve Net Zero
  • ENVS 6530: Corporate Sustainability Strategies
  • ENVS 6300: The Future of Water
  • ENVS 6550: Life Cycle Assessment
  • LAW 9190: Energy Law and Climate Change
  • MSE 5480: Materials Science and Market Signals in Clean Energy Supply Chains
  • MSE 7900: Energy, Water, and Materials for the AI Economy

Recommended courses: Impact Analytics

Impact Analytics

For students interested in Impact Analytics, we note that while the STAT Department does not have courses that count toward the four required credit units for the concentration, the following courses may be of special interest:

  • STAT 4100 – Data Collection and Acquisition: Strategies and Platforms
  • STAT 4220 – Predictive Analytics for Business
  • STAT 4230 – Applied Machine Learning in Business
  • STAT 4240 – Text Analytics
  • STAT 4350/5350/7110 – Forecasting Methods for Management
  • STAT 4420 – Introduction to Bayesian Data Analysis
  • STAT 4700/5030 – Data Analytics and Statistical Computing
  • STAT 4710/5710 – Modern Data Mining
  • STAT 4750 – Sample Survey Design
  • STAT 4770 – Introduction to Python for Data Science
  • STAT 4810/5810/ OIDD 4810/5810 – Convex Optimization for Statistics and Data Science
  • STAT 4900/5900 – Causal Inference