Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a pedagogical approach for designing a coursework curriculum that aims to meet the growing need for skilled professionals that have competencies in both business and sustainability, and that understand the nexus between the two. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses a pedagogical approach discussed in the education for sustainability literature to analyse the CESM program. The pedagogical approach focuses on developing students' knowledge, skills and attitudes (behaviours) in sustainability. Findings: The Knowledge-Skills-Attitudes (KSA) framework is a suitable pedagogical approach to guide the design of sustainability management education programs that prepare students for systemic organizational change. A KSA approach to designing sustainability management education curricula can also address the criticisms of current business management curricula by other scholars. Originality/value: The discussion of the MCESM program in this article provides guidance to faculty on one approach to creating sustainability-centric business curricula and may provide a catalyst for sharing learning experiences in integrating sustainability into existing business curricula. It may also provide some ideas for developing new programs that address the business and sustainability nexus. (Contains 2 tables.)