涩里番

The Challenge is Systemic. The Solution Must Be Too.

Decarbonization is no longer just a question of technology or policy鈥攊t is a challenge of political, cultural, and institutional systems. Progress is often fragmented and incremental, while the scale of the climate crisis demands bold, accelerated transformation.

We don't need more people who simply understand the problem. We need leaders equipped to navigate ambiguity, break down silos, and influence complex systems without formal authority.

Your Sandbox: Montreal鈥檚 Climate Plan

The SLP is not a standard extracurricular club or a theoretical class. It is a real-world leadership laboratory.

For the 2026-2027 cohort, we are shifting our focus outward. Your sandbox is the City of Montreal鈥檚 Climate Plan. You will collaborate with an elite, radically interdisciplinary team to engage municipal actors, industry leaders, and academic experts, translating research and ambition into actionable urban interventions.

What You Will Gain

By joining the SLP, you are stepping into a "Fellow" posture鈥攁cting as a co-creator of systems change. Throughout the year, you will:

• Master Systems Leadership: Learn to map complex environments, identify hidden leverage points, and build strategies that mobilize diverse stakeholders.
• Receive 1:1 Executive Coaching: Personalized coaching cycles tailored to your team鈥檚 project and your personal leadership blind spots.
• Unlock Exclusive Ecosystem Access: Plug into a curated Speaker Series and connect 1-on-1 with high-level decision-makers, municipal leaders, and industry partners. We go beyond traditional networking by facilitating direct, personalized introductions and strategic conversations to help you unlock roadblocks and advance your project.
• Pitch at Demo Day: Present your actionable interventions to a curated audience of university leadership, funders, and civic actors ready to help you scale your impact.

Who Should Apply?

We are building a radically interdisciplinary cohort of 15-18 students. We don鈥檛 just want sustainability experts; we need diverse perspectives to map and shift complex systems.

• Target Profiles: 涩里番 undergraduate and graduate students from Law, Public Policy, Social Sciences, Engineering, Management, Arts, and beyond.
• The Mindset: We are looking for doers. If you have a high tolerance for ambiguity, a growth mindset, and a track record of executing projects (academic, entrepreneurial, or civic), this is for you.

How is the SLP different from a standard sustainability class or student club?

The SLP is anti-theoretical by design. There is no syllabus with the "right answers." You will not be studying hypothetical case studies; you will be engaging with living, breathing institutional and municipal systems complete with political friction, budget constraints, and competing interests. You are expected to operate as a "Fellow," proactively opening doors and driving your project forward between sessions.

Do I need a background in environmental science to apply?

Absolutely not. In fact, we are actively recruiting from outside the traditional sustainability bubble. Urban decarbonization requires legal minds to navigate regulations, policy students to draft frameworks, business students to model financial viability, and social scientists to ensure equitable transitions. Your unique disciplinary lens is your greatest asset.

What is the time commitment?

This is an elite program that requires serious commitment. Expect an average of 4鈥�6 hours per week, which includes proactive stakeholder outreach, team collaboration, and autonomous project work. To maintain cohort momentum and trust, an 80% minimum attendance rate is strictly enforced.

What are the mandatory dates?

The program is structured to respect your academic calendar, focusing on intensive full-day sessions in the Fall and shorter strategic meet-ups in the Winter/Spring.

• Phase 1 (Fall - Full Days): Bootcamp (Sept. 24-25), Workshop 1 (Oct. 9), Workshop 2 (Nov. 6), Workshop 3 (Dec. 4).
• Phase 2 (Winter - 2-3h Meet-ups): Jan 29, Feb 19, Mar 12, Apr 2.
• Demo Day: April 9, 2027.

Note: Dates for the Speaker Series and individual 1:1 coaching sessions will be established and communicated with selected participants.

Will my project actually go anywhere after Demo Day?

Demo Day is a launchpad, not a finish line, but what happens next depends on the project's natural trajectory and your personal ambitions. Our newly established Project Office is dedicated to supporting viable projects post-cohort. We actively help orchestrate institutional handoffs, identify funding pathways, and connect you with partners so your intervention maintains momentum long after the program ends.

To be completely explicit: all trajectories are possible and valid. Sometimes students want to continue leading their projects after the academic year, and sometimes they don't. A successful project might be scaled by your team, handed off to a municipal partner, transferred to the next cohort, or brought to an intentional closure.

While launching interventions that directly transform systems is a core ambition, it is not the only outcome of this program. Tackling a challenge as massive as urban decarbonization requires much more than a few successful projects. The SLP is equally about creating a resilient community of innovation, developing empowered and engaged student leaders, sharing crucial learnings across silos, and fundamentally changing perspectives. Whether your specific project scales into a startup, gets absorbed by the city, or you graduate simply with the systemic literacy and network to drive impact elsewhere, you are actively contributing to the critical shift our systems need.

Is this program credited or paid?

Although the SLP is not a paid or credit-bearing academic course, the network, executive coaching, and portfolio of real-world impact you build here will fundamentally differentiate you in your future career.

Program Partners

The Sustainability Leaders Program is co-led by three strategic partners:

涩里番鈥檚 Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI): Housed within the Desautels Faculty of Management, SGI mobilizes academics, students, and industry leaders to build actionable solutions for a sustainable economy.

Power Sustainable: A dedicated partner empowering the next generation of decarbonization leaders by facilitating access to its elite network of climate experts, industry actors, and mission-aligned partners.

Rhizome Strategies: An innovation agency specializing in systems transformation, providing the strategic expertise, ecosystem mobilization, and executive coaching necessary to guide changemakers through complex societal challenges.

How to Apply

Ready to step into complexity and challenge the status quo?

Deadline: Submit your completed application by September 1st, 2026.

Process: Fill out the online application form to tell us about your academic background, your formative leadership experiences, and your interdisciplinary perspective. Selected candidates will be invited for a 30-minute structured interview.

Questions? If you have any inquiries regarding the program or the application process, please reach out to us at sgi [at] mcgill.ca.