8 October, 2026 - Geneva, Switzerland. The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) School of Management have announced the launch of a new Professional Master’s in Environment, Social and Governance Management (PM ESG), a joint qualification designed to equip working professionals with the integrated skills needed to lead organizational responses to sustainability, climate and governance pressures. The programme will welcome its first cohort in January 2027. 

Following a successful launch of the PM ESG programme in Vietnam, the programme will now be offered globally. The PM ESG is designed for professionals seeking to upskill within existing ESG-related roles, as well as those looking to reskill and transition into the field from adjacent disciplines such as finance, human resources, compliance, operations and corporate strategy. 

The launch responds to what programme partners describe as an accelerating, global need for professionals who can translate sustainability regulation and stakeholder pressure into sound organizational decisions. As of 2026, the IFRS Foundation highlights 40 jurisdictions representing roughly 60 percent of global GDP have adopted or are moving toward International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) sustainability disclosure standards, while the World Bank posits direct carbon pricing mechanisms now cover 29 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with associated revenues exceeding USD 107 billion in 2025. 

Employer demand mirrors this shift: the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 ranks environmental stewardship among the ten fastest-growing skills employers expect to need by 2030, and projects that climate adaptation and mitigation together will generate roughly 8 million net new jobs globally by the end of the decade. Separately, AIT estimates that 500,000 new ESG related jobs will be created this decade across functions ranging from entry-level compliance and reporting roles to boardroom-level risk oversight. 

"We are living through a period in which sustainability, climate risk, responsible governance and social expectations are becoming increasingly central to the way organizations create value and make decisions," said Professor Pai-Chi Li, President of the Asian Institute of Technology. "I am particularly pleased that the Professional Master’s in ESG represents a further step in AIT's growing collaboration with UNITAR. It is the second major programme to emerge from our partnership, following our earlier collaborative work in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence." 

"Sustainability policies and regulatory frameworks are evolving at a pace that leaves little room for delay," said Mihoko Kumamoto, Director of the Division for Prosperity at UNITAR. "Governments, institutions, and organizations are being called on to respond to increasingly interconnected environmental and social pressures. Through this partnership with AIT, we aim to help close that implementation gap by connecting international perspectives with practical learning and equipping professionals to respond with greater confidence, relevance, and impact." 

"The PM ESG has been designed not simply to teach a collection of ESG topics, but to help professionals understand how they connect," said Dr Roger Levermore, Programme Director of the Professional Master’s in ESG and former Dean of the AIT School of Management. "Good ESG leadership requires judgement, the ability to work across boundaries, and an understanding of how decisions create consequences elsewhere. My hope is that graduates leave being able to better ask difficult questions, anticipate change and make decisions that balance organizational performance with wider responsibilities to people, society and the planet."

Rather than treating environmental, social and governance issues as separate technical specialisms, the PM ESG is structured around six interconnected management dimensions: governance, people and communities, capital, value chains, planet, and innovation and foresight. The programme comprises eight compulsory three-credit course modules plus a six-credit practicum and final project, for a total of 30 credits, and can typically be completed in about one year, with flexible completion available for up to two years. 

The eight modules are: 

• Corporate Governance, Fair Operating Practices & Government Relations 
• ESG Value Chain Risk Management 
• Environmental Management & Climate Change 
• Community & Enterprise-led Development 
• Human Resource Management, Diversity & Inclusion 
• ESG Investing & Climate Finance 
• Innovation and the Future of ESG 
• ESG Scenario Planning & Trend Analysis 

Each module draws on real-world case studies from organizations such as Shell, Nike, Unilever, Tesla and VinFast, among others, and is taught by a mixed teaching team of AIT academic faculty and senior industry practitioners, including UNITAR global experts. The programme culminates in an ESG Practicum and Final Project, jointly supervised by AIT and UNITAR faculty, in which students define a live ESG challenge drawn from their own organization, sector or community and develop evidence-based recommendations for decision-makers. 

The PM ESG uses a hybrid, weekend-based learning format designed to allow students to continue working while they study, combining online and in-class instruction with extensive practical exposure. An ESG leader and former student emphasized the impact of the programmes practical approach, "The programme helped me move beyond basic compliance towards strategic ESG leadership and gave me practical tools I now use to develop actionable sustainability solutions," said Nguyen Hoang Viet, an Environmental Consultant and PM ESG graduate.

Students may pursue the full Professional Master’s, or opt to take individual course modules as standalone, credited professional certificates. A former graduate builds on the programmes flexible approach by reinforcing, "the syllabus is rich and updated with day-to-day business realities, and the support of the professors made it possible to complete the programme alongside a demanding professional schedule," said Do Thi Thu Ha, of KPMG. 

A review of participants and alumni from earlier AIT PM ESG cohorts found that approximately 75 percent were senior professionals or organizational leaders, more than half worked directly in ESG or sustainability-related fields, and the cohorts collectively represented more than 13 professional sectors and 12 ESG specialisms. Roles represented across cohorts have included CEOs, board members, senior partners, heads of sustainability, ESG managers and responsible sourcing managers, drawn from sectors including banking and investment, energy, law, audit and advisory, technology, manufacturing, healthcare and international development.

Ahead of the January 2027 start date, UNITAR and AIT will host a ten-week webinar series introducing the programme to prospective students and the wider ESG community. Each session will spotlight one theme from the PM ESG curriculum and feature a guest speaker, typically a senior ESG leader or practitioner, sharing thought leadership on that topic, offering participants an early, practical introduction to the issues and case studies they will encounter in the full programme. Further details on registration and the schedule of guest speakers will be announced on the UNITAR and AIT programme pages in the coming weeks. 

The full Professional Master’s (30 credits plus practicum / final project) is a hybrid programme with tuition fees of USD 16,750, while individual modules can be taken as a standalone certificate (3 credits) at USD 2,500 each. 

For more information on the Professional Master’s in ESG, including full curriculum details, faculty profiles and admissions requirements, visit the programme page at www.som.ait.ac.th/pm-esg, contact pmesg@ait.ac.th, or a2030@unitar.org.