Our history
Founded in 2007 by a group of international students, Green Light for Business is Bocconi’s first and longest-running sustainability association. This is what members made happen, year by year.
2007
Green Light for Business is founded as a non-profit association by a group of international students at Bocconi University in Milan, with the goal of “inspiring engagement in green business”. It is Bocconi’s first student association dedicated to sustainability.
2010
The association organises Europe’s largest student conference on sustainable business: three days, 300 participants from 44 countries and 60 speakers, among them leaders, politicians and academics from UNEP, Goldman Sachs, Vodafone, the World Bank, the European Climate Exchange, McKinsey & Company, MWH, P&G, Cisco, the US State Department, Accenture, UPS, the Italian Senate, the Norwegian Embassy, Nestlé, Fiat Group Automobiles and Deutsche Telekom. It is the first event of its kind in Italy.
2010 – 2013
Two main events mark these years. The “2011 Environment and Mobility Referendum” debate, with Edoardo Croci, research director of IEFE at Bocconi and former councillor for mobility and environment of the Municipality of Milan. And the “Next Generation Sustainable Cities Conference”, where experts discussed sustainable urban lifestyles.
2013 – 2014
Working with the Bocconi Sustainability Committee, the association introduces water fountains across campus and has the plastic-bottle dispensers removed. The same year it creates the Green Campus division, dedicated to sustainability on campus itself. The fountains are still the association’s best-known project.
2017 – 2018
“Redesigning Sustainability” opens with a series of talks on green investment, smart cities and slow food. “Non essere cattivo” explores the relationship between profit and sustainability. In 2018 the association celebrates its anniversary and redesigns its logo.
2018 – 2019
“Fashion Revolution: la moda ai tempi della sostenibilità”, organised with HERE Connecting Creativity, looks at sustainable fashion. A second event tackles ocean plastic pollution with Federica Brignone, Alex Bellini, Fabrizio Longo of Audi Italia, Stefano Pogutz of SDA Bocconi and Andrea Binelli of the University of Milan.
2019 – 2020
- A park clean-up in Piazzale Selinunte, covered by Il Giorno Milano.
- With Bocconi’s Sustainability Commission and B.lab Bocconi, a new reusable bottle is designed and given to every freshman in the welcome kit.
- The CSR Italian tour ends in Milan in October with its final conference at Bocconi.
- With Bocconi Surf Club, an evening on plastic in the oceans with Eleonora de Sabata (Clean Sea Life), Fabio Zambelli (See You Surf) and Giulio Magni (One Ocean Foundation).
2020 – 2021
A difficult year, run almost entirely online, and still a productive one:
- An interview with the association’s founder, Thomas Baade-Mathiesen.
- A mention in the first Bocconi Sustainability Report as the main student association addressing sustainability at the university.
- With BSI Bocconi, an online event on sustainability in fashion with Tina Logar Bauchmüller (Mila.Vert), Francesco Minghini (Armadioverde) and Matteo Ward (WRÅD).
- A discussion of the Green New Deal with Antonio Navarra, president of the Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change, and Ivan Faiella, senior economist at Banca d’Italia.
- With the Bocconi Students Food Association, an event on food waste built on a report by Irene Miraglia of the Knowledge & Relations division, with Camilla Serra (Too Good To Go) and Caterina Racca (Heaven_avena).
2021 – 2022
Events return in person:
- A green start-up conference with the founder of VAIA, a manager from illuminem and the sales team of Too Good To Go.
- A nuclear-energy debate, with members arguing the pros and cons of nuclear power in Europe after the invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis.
- A food-rescue drive collecting food that would otherwise have been thrown away.
- The first sustainable consulting project, a market-strategy brief for the carbon-offsetting company ZeroCO2, and the first yearly GL4B Magazine, produced by the Blog and Social Media teams.
2022 – 2023
The association launches its podcast, Green Talks, on Spotify, and runs a full calendar:
- An event on nuclear energy with experts from Politecnico di Milano on its contribution to climate goals.
- Two clean-ups of Parco Ravizza.
- “Alumni Career Talk”, an online series with GL4B alumni working in sustainable finance, sustainable consulting and other green careers.
- An event on sustainable fashion with companies that turn waste into fabric.
- A volunteering day with Banco Alimentare against food waste.
2023 – 2024
Draft, to be confirmed by the board. Green Talks becomes a division of its own and publishes its second season, fourteen episodes in all. A sustainability-versus-capitalism debate opens the year; ClimateCharted, a start-up founded by a former board member, runs two training workshops; a Fairtrade coffee event takes place at Cascina Nascosta, and a clothing booth with Opera San Francesco and Students for Humanity collects donations. In spring the association hosts a sustainable-fashion panel with PwC Milano, Ecoolska, Simon Cracker, Appcycled and Vinokilo, a business-case workshop with Kellanova and Bocconi Students for ESG, and a screening of Food for Profit. For Bocconi’s first university-wide Earth Day the University asks GL4B and Bocconi TV to help run the programme. A monthly newsletter starts in March.
2024 – 2025
Draft, to be confirmed by the board. Debate training and a public debate with the Bocconi Debate Club, an evening with the Amsterdam ESG consultancy Sustainix, a picnic and clean-up competition in Parco Ravizza, and a clothes drive with Students for Humanity for Opera San Francesco. In April 2025 the Object Library, a lending library of everyday objects proposed by the association, opens on floor −1 of the Leoni building. In spring the members elect the board in a contested vote for the first time.
2025 – 2026
Draft, to be confirmed by the board. Around ninety members across three divisions. The autumn brings the “Swap to Save” clothing swap with Students for Humanity, a panel with Eni and the AVSI Foundation, and “From Europe to the World” with BOSDIC, featuring speakers from WIPO Green, NOVA University Lisbon and the World Bank. In spring the association is led by two co-presidents for the first time. Members visit the Oasi Ca’ Granda regeneration project, host “Ethics and Sustainability in Businesses” with Res Ethica, clean Parco Ravizza with Plastic Free and AMSA, co-host the Earth Day Clothing Swap with the University in the Del Vecchio courtyard, run a panel on behavioural tools for sustainability with EY-Parthenon and Botta EcoPackaging together with BBIAS, and take part in Nestlé’s ReNest panel on nature and biodiversity. In May the University agrees to accept reusable cups in the Leoni coffee machines, a Green Campus proposal. The blog publishes nine signed articles in the spring semester.