As organizations across all sectors grapple with the urgent need to address climate change and manage environmental impacts and social responsibility, the call for skilled and knowledgeable leaders has never been louder. The University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) hired Fresh Coast to design and build a program that would equip aspiring and established professionals with the practical climate and sustainability skillsets to drive meaningful change. In 2025, Fresh Coast delivered an online, 12-week sustainability bootcamp.
Our goal was to build a curriculum that would provide participants with the knowledge to pursue a career in sustainability as well as the practical skills to make impact right away. The program catered to recent graduates seeking to enter the sustainability field, as well as experienced professionals looking to upskill and deepen their knowledge. We focused on delivering a practical bootcamp, reflecting the latest industry standards and real-world challenges.
Overview
Over the 12 weeks, the Fresh Coat team delivered 24 synchronous, virtual classes, plus 6 additional career-oriented sessions led by a sustainability career coach. Our curriculum was designed to include the latest advances in climate science and sustainability planning, including exposure to all relevant sustainability reporting standards, and certifications.
The curriculum offered a broad foundation in the world of sustainability, covering everything from the basics of climate science and setting sustainability program goals to the complexities of GHG accounting, climate policies, and decarbonization strategies as well as lessons on water stewardship and nature-based solutions. We designed a course-long assignment in which participants developed a sustainability plan for an organization of their choice, applying the concepts learned each week. This hands-on approach allowed participants to put their newly acquired skills into practice to understand sustainability impacts and develop solutions to address them.
The program also recognized the importance of diverse perspectives. It featured 19 guest speakers from a wide range of industries and organizations who provided participants with a rich and varied understanding of sustainability in practice. A whole week was devoted to environmental justice, including historical perspectives on the environmental movement that helped shape early corporate social and environmental responsibility efforts, as well as present day thinking on the challenges and opportunities that businesses and organizations have to balance economic progress with sustainability..
The pilot bootcamp attracted diverse participants from across the U.S. and with a wide range of ages and experience levels. Feedback from participants was extremely positive, and our primary client contact at the University of Michigan, in charge of digital learning, noted that he had never experienced such a successful rollout of an online program on the first try. One participant commented: “The breadth of content, the rich and varied perspectives delivered from leaders across the sustainability field, and the resources to help me find my next opportunity are exactly what I was seeking! For a career switcher such as myself, the Sustainability Bootcamp has delivered.”
The students each received a certificate from the university.
Fresh Coast looks forward to conducting more sustainability bootcamps and online trainings for aspiring professionals in 2026 and beyond.
