Module 1:
New perspectives on nature
New perspectives on nature
Nature Risk and Enterprise Strategy
Online and scheduled
Seven weeks, approximately 15 hours
$950
October 14, 2026
Nature shapes business performance. Supply chains, operations, investment decisions and long-term organizational resilience all depend on natural systems that have costs you don’t see on balance sheets.
This executive course helps leaders identify nature-related dependencies and impacts, understand the risks and opportunities they create and translate those findings into business strategy.
Over seven weeks you will work alongside leaders from multiple sectors while completing a first-pass TNFD LEAP assessment using your own organization.
Program overview
Organizations increasingly recognize that nature-related risks influence financial performance, operations and long-term success. Investor attention now centers on financial materiality, board oversight and the linkage between risk and strategy, and nature-related disclosure is becoming part of that conversation.
Nature Risk and Enterprise Strategy prepares leaders to meet that expectation.
Rather than approaching nature as an environmental issue alone, the course examines how dependencies and impacts influence enterprise strategy, operational resilience, financial decision-making and organizational performance. The value nature provides for free is pivotal but unpriced, which makes it invisible in conventional financial accounting. This course teaches leaders to make that value visible using materiality, cost of capital, risk exposure and continuity of supply rather than values-based framing alone.
Throughout the course, learners apply concepts directly to their own organizations. By the end of the program, participants complete a first-pass TNFD LEAP assessment that provides a practical foundation for future strategy, reporting and organizational planning.
Why apply
You will learn alongside professionals responsible for strategy, finance, enterprise risk, sustainability, procurement and operations.
Every assignment builds toward practical work that continues after the course concludes.
Faculty combine business strategy with conservation expertise so that you can connect environmental information to executive decision-making.
The cohort format lets you learn from leaders representing multiple industries and organizational perspectives.
Enrollment is capped at 35 learners, which keeps discussion close and faculty attention direct.
What you will be able to do
These outcomes come directly from the course design and can be used in full on the landing page or trimmed for shorter placements.
Make the case for why nature is material to organizational strategy, success and longevity using natural capital and ecosystem services concepts.
Translate nature-related dependencies and impacts into organizational risk and financial language that informs strategic decision-making.
Argue for treating social and ecological interdependence as a material factor in nature-related risk management.
Map the nature-related dependencies and impacts within a scoped part of your organization.
Assess nature-related risks and opportunities while accounting for sector-specific materiality.
Recommend and justify strategic responses to nature-related risks and opportunities.
Communicate nature-related reporting and regulatory requirements to internal and external stakeholders.
Produce a credible nature-related assessment using the TNFD LEAP approach that can serve as a first step toward disclosure and target-setting.
What is included
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A seven-week cohort experience of approximately 15 hours.
Six live online sessions.
Self-directed learning between live sessions.
Cohort slack channel for peer to peer engagement
Faculty guidance and peer discussion.
Case studies drawn from multiple industries and sectors.
Practical assignments built around your own organization.
An ASU digital badge.
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Course modules
Module 2:
Building relationships with place and people
Building relationships with place and people
Module 3:
Mapping dependencies and impacts
Mapping dependencies and impacts
Module 4:
Assessing risks and opportunities
Assessing risks and opportunities
Module 5:
Responding and reporting
Responding and reporting
Who should apply
This course is built for mid-to-senior and executive leaders who can influence strategy, risk, reporting, operations, procurement, investment or sustainability decisions. Typical applicants include the following.
Executive leaders and senior decision makers.
Enterprise strategy professionals.
Enterprise risk managers.
Sustainability and ESG leaders.
Finance, disclosure and investor relations professionals.
Procurement and supply chain leaders.
Product design, research and development, and operations leaders.
Consultants advising organizations on sustainability, strategy or enterprise risk.
This course is built for mid-to-senior and executive leaders who can influence strategy, risk, reporting, operations, procurement, investment or sustainability decisions. Typical applicants include the following.
Course at a glance
Course details
Start date
Tuition
$950
Duration
Seven weeks
Approximately 15 hours
Format
Online and scheduled. Asynchronous learning with six live interactive sessions.
Credential
ASU digital badge
Faculty
Chris Barton, Bruno Sarda, Kevin O’Donnell
Live sessions
60 minute live Zoom sessions. Wednesdays 3 - 4 p.m. AZ (Oct. 21, Oct. 28, Nov. 4, Nov. 18, Dec. 2, Dec. 9)
Faculty
Bruno Sarda
Bruno Sarda is a Professor of Practice in ASU’s School of Sustainability and EY Americas Climate Change and Sustainability Services Leader. He brings more than 20 years of experience helping organizations embed sustainability, ESG, climate strategy, and disclosure into core business operations. His prior leadership roles include President of CDP North America, Chief Sustainability Officer at NRG Energy, and sustainability leadership at Dell Technologies. In this course, Bruno brings a boardroom and enterprise strategy lens to nature risk, reporting, and business transformation.
ASU profile
Chris Barton
Chris Barton is a Clinical Assistant Professor in ASU’s Rob Walton School of Conservation Futures and Assistant Director for Knowledge Innovation at the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes. His work focuses on conservation, global development, and collaboration across cultures and knowledge systems, with particular attention to Indigenous and local knowledge in addressing complex environmental challenges. In this course, Chris helps learners connect nature risk to social-ecological systems, place-based relationships, and organizational decision-making.
ASU profile
Kevin O’Donnell
Kevin O’Donnell is a global sustainability executive with deep experience turning sustainability strategy into measurable business value. He has led enterprise sustainability, sustainable sourcing, decarbonization, circularity, regenerative agriculture, responsible supply chains, and resource efficiency work across major companies including Walmart, Nike, General Mills, Dairy Farmers of America, and Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits. In this course, Kevin brings a practitioner’s perspective on translating nature-related dependencies, impacts, and risks into operational action, financial value, and executive decision-making.