When Liv Braun noticed the absence of a dedicated sustainability club at ESSEC’s Asia-Pacific campus, she saw an opportunity to make a meaningful difference. What started as one student’s passion for environmental impact has grown into a thriving community reshaping how students think about sustainability in Singapore and beyond.

From Inspiration to Action

Liv’s motivation was both personal and universal. “I wanted to contribute to the ESSEC community in a way that is different from what I do on a daily basis,” she explains. Having interned at a venture capital firm focused on environmental and social impact, she understood the critical need for proactive individuals to drive change.

Setting up the club proved “rather simple, but not easy.” While the concept and structure came together quickly, building sustained engagement required strategic thinking. The solution: establishing a dedicated core team of board members who could drive projects forward and maintain momentum.

A Three-Pillar Approach

The club operates on three pillars: awareness, education, and impact. Four specialized teams handle education (guest lectures and workshops), action (volunteering events), podcast, and marketing. The diverse membership—spanning different backgrounds and majors—reflects their belief that environmental impact requires collective effort.

Rather than limiting focus to specific sustainability areas, the club maintains broad scope while concentrating on the APAC region and Singapore. They’ve tackled carbon capture, carbon finance, energy transition, and corporate responsibility, always ready to pursue promising member ideas.

Creating Impact On and Off Campus

The club blends education with action beautifully. Guest lectures feature sustainability leaders like the founder of susGain, an award-winning Singapore startup, while podcast episodes showcase participants from Stanford’s Singapore Climate Ventures initiative. Creative events, including documentary movie nights with discussions, make sustainability accessible and engaging.

Hands-on initiatives include collaborating with ESSEC’s edible garden and developing partnerships with local NGOs for green volunteering projects. The club bridges campus and community, bringing external professionals to educate students while engaging in real-world environmental projects throughout Singapore.

Overcoming Challenges, Building Community

The club faces a challenge common throughout sustainability: the gap between theoretical support and active participation. “People support sustainable practices in theory, but they do not get actively involved themselves,” Liv observes. Rather than discouragement, this motivates the team to address one of sustainability’s core issues—transforming passive interest into engagement.

Student response has been encouraging, with events attracting members and non-members alike. The club has become a central hub for sustainability discussions and initiatives, fostering open environmental dialogue across campus.

Looking Toward a Green Future

The club’s long-term vision extends beyond immediate impact. It’s building a lasting network to support members’ sustainability careers, actively showcasing opportunities in the field to expand sustainability-engaged alumni.

For students wondering how to begin their sustainability journey, Liv’s advice is direct: “Look around you. If you look for it, you can almost always find an activity that gets you involved in sustainability. And if you do not find something that fits, create it yourself. The future can only be green if we make it green.”

This philosophy perfectly captures what the ESSEC APAC Sustainability Club represents—proof that meaningful environmental change begins with individuals willing to build community and inspire others toward a more sustainable future.