The Erb Institute is the sustainability partnership between the Ross School of Business and the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) at the University of Michigan.

The institute has grown over the past 25 years from its initial teaching focus to include scholarly and applied research on business sustainability, as well as direct business engagement to turn ideas into action through company projects, collaborative research and industry roundtables for impact. The institute has three professors, three post-doctoral fellows, a permanent staff of six, over 200 graduate and undergraduate students, and more than 600 alumni in 17 countries.

The institute’s five-year Strategic Plan 2022-26 adds a justice lens to our long-time work in business sustainability. This big and bold approach goes beyond individual firms to consider how capitalism is structured for inclusion and opportunity. Advancing this strategy requires going beyond a traditional university focus on research and teaching, to innovating and engaging directly with business pioneers.

One of the institute initiatives we are most excited to explore with the Council for Inclusive Capitalism is our Corporate Political Responsibility Taskforce, whose mission is to help companies better align their approach to political influence with their commitments to purpose, values, inclusion, sustainability and stakeholders. The Taskforce provides forums, foresight and frameworks for corporate political responsibility as a critical component of a more just, inclusive and prosperous capitalism.