Canadian sustainability research and media company, Corporate Knights has released the 2026 Better World MBA ranking, its 17th annual ranking of the world’s most sustainable MBA programmes.
UCT GSB | Image supplied
The 2026 Corporate Knights BetterWorld MBA top 40 ranking examines the performances of 179 business schools. They are evaluated on the sustainability content of their core courses and their alumni impact, the number of recent graduates employed with impact organisations. Data for sustainability content is gathered from publicly disclosed information.
The survey tracks schools’ central MBA programmes, not climate-oriented specialty offerings.
The organisation evaluates programmes on two measures: the integration of sustainable development into compulsory MBA courses, which accounts for 80% of the score, and the impact of their graduates, which accounts for 20%. The weight the ranking gives to alumni impact (the share of recent graduates working in sustainability-related roles or at organisations with a social or environmental mission) was doubled this year, from 10% in 2025.
The organisation explains that its survey methodology evolves annually as new data becomes available. Bonus marks have also been added for schools that can prove they’re not just teaching sustainability but actively testing their students’ learnings.
Corporate Knights says its researchers have observed that the sustainability portion of these programmes have started to slip from the climate change threat, with focus shifting to newer developments, such as the rise of artificial intelligence.
“A lot of schools have treated sustainability like a trend,” said Althea Reyes, senior research analyst at Corporate Knights, who oversaw this year’s project. “We’re looking to find out what’s genuinely being embedded in these programmes. Are the schools truly offering sustainable business education, regardless of the latest headwinds?”
These updated rules that have lead to new schools reaching the top of the list. Maastricht University’s School of Business and Economics in the Netherlands took top spot this year, with South Africa's University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) climbing five places to take second place.
After two years in the global top 10, UCT finished ahead of Australia’s Griffith Business School, which had come first on the list for six consecutive years. The University of Pretoria's Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) rounded out South Africa's inclusion on the list at 27.
Dr Wayne Moodaley, UCT's full-time MBA programme director, noted that as AI reshapes business operations, it presents key challenges regarding responsible management. While AI enhances efficiency, he emphasised that its advantages must be weighed against environmental, social, and accountability risks — trade-offs that UCT integrates into its core MBA curriculum to teach sustainable decision-making.
The top 40 MBAs for 2026
| 2026 rank | 2025 rank | School | Country | Curriculum (80%) | Alumni impact (20%) | Final weighted score |
| 1 | 3 | Maastricht University: School of Business and Economics | Netherlands | 94% | 37% | 95.2% |
| 2 | 7 | University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business | South Africa | 83% | 62% | 89.1% |
| ~3 | 2 | University of Vermont: Grossman School of Business | United States | 84% | 50% | 85.8% |
| ~3 | 1 | Griffith Business School | Australia | 88% | 28% | 84.0% |
| 5 | 5 | American University: Kogod School of Business | United States | 78% | 62% | 83.6% |
| 6 | 9 | University of Victoria: Peter B. Gustavson School of Business | Canada | 76% | 62% | 82.6% |
| 7 | 8 | Centrum PUCP Business School | Peru | 72% | 1% | 78.1% |
| 8 | 4 | Bard College | United States | 65% | 62% | 69.9% |
| 9 | 10 | University of Exeter Business School | United Kingdom | 55% | 23% | 64.9% |
| 10 | 6 | Duquesne University: Palumbo-Donahue School of Business | United States | 52% | 70% | 60.5% |
| 11 | 22 | Eada Business School Barcelona | Spain | 59% | 14% | 59.8% |
| 12 | 21 | ESMT Berlin | Germany | 57% | 27% | 57.6% |
| 13 | 17 | Henley Business School | United Kingdom | 55% | 22% | 54.8% |
| 14 | 39 | Loughborough Business School | United Kingdom | 52% | 19% | 52.0% |
| 15 | 19 | Glasgow Caledonian University: Glasgow School for Business and Society | United Kingdom | 50% | 18% | 51.5% |
| 16 | New | Manchester Metropolitan University | United Kingdom | 52% | 9% | 50.6% |
| 17 | 12 | York University: Schulich School of Business | Canada | 52% | 11% | 50.2% |
| 18 | 25 | Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University | Netherlands | 47% | 39% | 49.6% |
| 19 | 18 | Toronto Metropolitan University | Canada | 43% | 29% | 44.3% |
| 20 | 41 | HEC Montréal | Canada | 33% | 6% | 41.7% |
| 21 | 24 | Colorado State University: College of Business | United States | 38% | 29% | 41.3% |
| 22 | 20 | University of Winchester Business School | United Kingdom | 44% | | 41.1% |
| 23 | 14 | University of British Columbia: Sauder School of Business | Canada | 41% | 16% | 40.5% |
| 24 | 15 | La Trobe Business School | Australia | 36% | 49% | 40.4% |
| 25 | Opted out | University of Guelph: Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics | Canada | 37% | 37% | 39.5% |
| 26 | 11 | Warwick Business School | United Kingdom | 40% | 11% | 39.1% |
| 27 | 23 | Gordon Institute of Business Science | South Africa | 34% | 6% | 38.6% |
| 28 | 13 | UC Berkeley: Haas School of Business | United States | 39% | 15% | 38.6% |
| 29 | 16 | Nottingham University Business School | United Kingdom | 39% | 8% | 37.7% |
| 30 | 59 | Newcastle University Business School | United Kingdom | 40% | 3% | 37.6% |
| 31 | 31 | Frankfurt School of Finance and Management | Germany | 32% | 44% | 36.4% |
| 32 | 29 | TIAS School for Business and Society | Netherlands | 35% | 24% | 36.3% |
| 33 | 42 | University of Bath School of Management | United Kingdom | 38% | 7% | 36.2% |
| 34 | 27 | McGill University: Desautels Faculty of Management | Canada | 36% | 11% | 35.7% |
| 35 | 36 | Keele University: Keele Business School | United Kingdom | 36% | | 35.5% |
| 36 | 30 | Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management | Belgium | 35% | 18% | 35.4% |
| 37 | 28 | Durham University Business School | United Kingdom | 32% | 14% | 32.6% |
| 38 | New | University of Lincoln | United Kingdom | 33% | 5% | 32.0% |
| 39 | 34 | WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management | Germany | 32% | 12% | 31.6% |
| 40 | No response | Australian Graduate School of Management at UNSW Business School | Australia | 33% | | 31.3% |
