World’s largest pulp supplier, Suzano, has entered into a new collaboration with INSEAD, one of the world's leading graduate business schools.
The alliance is part of Suzano’s centenary initiative, dedicated to empowering the next generation of leaders to tackle sustainability challenges
The INSEAD Suzano Collaboration for Progress (ISCP) will facilitate research and greater integration between markets and society, humanity and nature.
10th November 2025 - Suzano, the world’s largest pulp supplier and one of Brazil’s biggest employers, today announces a strategic partnership with INSEAD, the Business School for the World, as part of its centenary initiative. In collaboration with INSEAD, Suzano will support cutting-edge academic research and education, focused on aligning business practices with sustainable development through projects focused on practical approaches for bridging profit, people, and the planet.
These projects will explore critical issues such as driving collective action in fragmented economic systems, equipping leaders to champion sustainable strategies to cost-conscious stakeholders, and fostering a cultural shift from obligation to aspiration in integrating performance and progress. This research will be led by prominent INSEAD faculty members, including Professors Karel Cool, Peter Joos, and Subi Rangan.
Beto Abreu, Chief Executive Officer of Suzano, said:
“We know the long-term success of our business is fundamentally linked to the health of the planet, and the well-being of our people. But knowledge does not make the difference, people do. We need to practically embed integrated thinking into our strategy, operations, governance, capabilities and culture. This is how companies enact practical change, and why we are excited to be collaborating with experts at INSEAD to empower the leaders of today and tomorrow to make sustainable business a reality.”
Francisco Veloso, Dean at INSEAD, said:
“We are excited to be working with Suzano, because we share the same intention – to create a better world in which we more effectively integrate profit, people, and the planet. Our collaboration will help INSEAD to advance the frontiers of social science and support practical education, to create real change. Thanks to this gift, we will be able to bring together some of the world’s brightest minds from inside and outside the school, to help advance theory and practice on aligning business performance with genuine progress.”
Abreu and Veloso celebrated the collaboration at a special event at the INSEAD Campus in Fontainebleau, France on 8th November. This took place alongside a ceremony to recognise the 2025 recipients of the Progress Medals for pioneering contributions to theory and practice in shaping the economic system to better integrate fairness, wellbeing, and nature.
The INSEAD Suzano Collaboration for Progress will curate small communities of scholars and practitioners around each of the focus areas to drive new research and learning over the next three to five years. It will also promote the development of best-practice case studies in Business Sustainability, and the launch of an INSEAD Business Sustainability Webinar Series.
Suzano’s centenary initiative is committing up to US$100 million to global organizations, with current partners including INSEAD, Stanford University, the University of Cambridge, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Brazilian universities. It is intended to empower the next generation of leaders to address sustainability challenges and advance efforts to protect and restore the natural environment, with a particular focus on Brazilian ecosystems.
