SustainableBusiness.com reports that last week Columbia announced that it would begin to offer a Master’s Degree in Sustainable Development beginning in the fall of 2009. Twelve other schools will join Columbia in offering the two-year Global Master’s in Development Practice program (rolls right off the tongue)  within the next three years.  The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has pledged $15 million to start up the MDP program.

Surprise, surprise, Jeffery Sachs chimes in: “The new Master’s in Development Practice will train professionals with the multi-disciplinary knowledge, tools and management skills they will need for success.” Sachs also recently proposed a carbon tax as an alternative to cap-and-trade systems. Then saved the planet.