FSDF e-Campus | Certified Expert in Climate & RE Finance

This e-learning course is developed and implemented jointly with the Frankfurt School - UNEP Collaborating Cente.

The Paris Agreement marks the beginning of a new era with the focus shifting from finding a consensus on the common goals to realising jointly agreed goals. “Making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development” (Article 2 c of the Paris Agreement) will require a significant increase in funding – with new instruments and approaches required to mobilize a broad range of investors and to achieve scalability in financing climate action. Financing the global energy transition will be one key building block.

Decreasing prices for renewables combined with increasing regulatory risk for traditional fossil fuels make Renewable Energy (RE) more competitive and attractive for commercial investors.

What Do We Offer?

An interactive e-learning course including video lectures, PDF scripts, practical exercises, online tests and case studies.
A discussion forum for course related issues as well as for exchange of opinions and experiences with your classmates and tutors.
Personalized support from your e-Campus Team.
The possibility to attain a Frankfurt School Certificate after passing the final exam or a confirmation of course completion after completing the course. After passing the final exam, you will earn 6 ECTS (academic credit points of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System). The points can be credited to other academic learning programs.

Tuition Fees*

E-Learning

Regular Tuition Fee: EUR 1,900

Early Bird Fee: EUR 1,600 (by January 15)

Classroom

Regular Tuition Fee: EUR 1,900

Early Bird Fee: EUR 1,600 (by January 15)

Package (e-learning + classroom)

Regular Tuition Fee: EUR 3,150

Early Bird Fee: EUR 2,750 (by January 15)

Discounts:

10% group discount (for 2 or more participants working for the same institution)
10% for FS Alumni
For package discounts, please contact us

Payment Options

Bank Transfer (bank fees to be covered by participants)
Credit Card
PayPal

Payment in installments is not possible.

*Subject to change

Target Audience

This course has a clear focus on finance and is suitable for both public and private sector practitioners, including entrepreneurs, project developers, private investors, initiator/fund houses, international development finance consultants and managers, plant operators and manufacturers, engineers and advisory professionals (e.g. law firms, business and tax consultants). Other interested parties, such as academics in relevant fields, are of course also welcome to register to the course.

The course aims to explain the specifics of climate and renewable energy finance. Pre-experience in (mainstream) banking and finance is therefore helpful but not required. Participants without basic knowledge in finance should accommodate for additional study time.

Workload

The course takes 6 months assuming 5-7 hours of self-study per week. It consists of 10 units which build upon each other. You will take the units in sequence and will need to pass an online multiple choice test before accessing the next unit.

The last unit includes a case study that has to be submitted on a fixed deadline.

You are not sure if you manage to complete the course within 6 months? No worries! You can apply for a course extension (6 more months) against an administrative fee.

Dates

Course Start	Course End	Registration	Early Bird
Sept. 1	Feb. 29	Jun. 1 - Sept. 1	by Jul. 15
Mar. 1	Aug. 31	Dec. 1 - Mar. 1	by Jan. 15

Registration

Registration for the March intake will open on December 1. Get notified by subscribing to our newsletter.

Registration for the classroom training is still open until January 22, 2025.

Register for Classroom Training

Course Details'

Climate Change is high on the agenda of governments across the world. The structural change of the global energy system is already under way with annual investment in power generation based on renewables at almost the same level as investment in power based on fossil fuels.

This course will help you understand the different perspectives on financing climate and RE projects:

Firstly, you will learn to understand the big picture of climate change and the various fields of investments resulting from climate policy needs, with RE investments being a central pillar.
Secondly, you will be introduced to a project and business model perspective and learn which parameters are used to assess the financial viability of a climate or RE investment.
Thirdly, the course will deep dive into RE investments and you will learn why markets alone might fundamentally not be able to trigger RE investment in a way necessary to mitigate climate change and which support instruments are available across different countries.
Fourthly, you will get a comprehensive overview of the various RE business models that are on the market and will learn about the basics of RE technologies, the electricity markets and typical RE technology risks as relevant for the financing perspective.
Fifthly, the universe of RE investors will be presented linking back to the previously introduced learnings on financing RE projects including, but not limited to dealing with the specific risk profile of capital intense business models in an often policy and regulation-driven market.
Finally, you will be introduced to key parameters of financing and structuring RE projects and will learn how to apply them by setting-up and using an excel-based cash flow model for a RE project.

The course will conclude with an excursus covering the additional perspective of financing energy efficiency projects.

*Subject to change

Unit 1

Introduction

Unit 1 provides an introduction to basic concepts of climate change science such as weather, climate, the greenhouse effect, main causes and elements of anthropogenic (human caused) climate change. To prevent dangerous climate change, not only individual climate protection measures are required. This unit discusses challenges and opportunities for economies due to climate change from an economic perspective and the dynamic interplay of climate politics, business and finance. Following, the state-of-the-art of climate policy and what do these goals imply for concrete acting are presented. The section concludes with a discussion about the increasing urgency to act now!

Unit 2

Overview on Climate Finance

The term “Climate Finance” has not been clearly defined so far and there is no common understanding about the financing flows which should be included or not. The term has been used in a narrow sense to refer to transfers of public resources from developed to developing countries, in light of their UN Climate Convention obligations to provide "new and additional financial resources," and in a wider sense to refer to all financial flows relating to climate mitigation and adaptation.

Financing renewable energy projects is a crucial but not the only element of climate finance. Unit 2 focuses on a description of financing needs in climate change in the area of mitigation and adaptation across sectors, financing sources and instruments. It shows the relevance of RE in terms of scale and contribution to climate finance and will discuss the role of climate risk assessment in the mainstream business.

Unit 3

Basics of Finance and Investment

Unit 3 introduces the basics of finance and investment for assessing the financial viability of investments into climate or renewable energy projects. The unit informs on the basics of looking at business models, introduces key indicators such as NPV, IRR and WACC and provides the basics of capital structures including debt and equity instruments.

Unit 4

The Role of Regulation and Support Frameworks

While levelized costs of electricity from many renewable energy technologies have decreased significantly over the past years, financial viability still requires some level of public sector intervention in many applications. Unit 4 explains why markets alone might fundamentally not be able to trigger renewable energy investment in a way necessary to mitigate climate change and which barriers can prevent renewable energy investments.

The unit will also familiarize you with typical support mechanisms available across different countries that can be used to overcome barriers the way they work and their effects on the financial viability. We will also introduce the role of donors and the instruments they can use to address (in particular financial) barriers to renewable energy investments.

Unit 5

Business Models for Renewable Energy

There is a broad range of business models across RE technologies and across different countries. This module unit will introduce the most relevant business models for large-scale centralized such as a multi-megawatt wind park and small-scale decentralized renewable energy projects such as a community-based mini-grid PV plant. This unit will help you understand the different business model parameters according to project scale and e.g. revenue models, ownership structure and value proposition and will link to the financing perspective.

Unit 6

Technical Knowledge on RE Technologies and Electricity Markets

Unit 6 introduces the physical basics of energy, some basics of the functioning of electricity markets and the basics of renewable energy based electricity generation technologies. This understanding is crucial to properly assess key technology risks that can substantially influence a renewable energy project’s financial viability.

Unit 7

The Universe of Climate and RE Investors

Different investors and intermediaries have very different investment strategies, level of risk appetite, return expectations and investment horizon. Crowding in the right investor for a project is essential to ensure their long term involvement and the required scale up of investment volumes. Unit 7 will familiarize you with different types of investors and financial intermediaries and improve your understanding of their decision-making criteria and process.

Unit 8

Financing Structures, Financial Instruments and Donor Interventions for RE Projects

Unit 8 is about project finance structures and donor intervention for supporting renewable energy development. You will be familiarised with the private sector investors’ and commercial lenders’ perspective on the different risks and barriers a project faces and at what stage of the project these risks occur. We will also introduce you to the different financing structures and the key differences between corporate and project finance.

Unit 9

Applying Knowledge in Practice: Financial Modelling

Building on your knowledge gained in the previous units, unit 9 will teach you how to build a simple financial model for a renewable energy project in EXCEL. With the help of our experts you will project operating and investing cash flows and derive a possible financing structure. Once we have built this model you will also learn how to calculate key ratios and how to perform a sensitivity analysis.

Unit 10

Excursus – Financing for Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency plays a crucial role in climate change mitigation. Massive energy efficiency potential exists in the residential sector but also in the commercial/industrial sector and transportation. Often, required investments are relatively small and are paid back in relatively short timeframes. Therefore, energy efficiency projects are often characterized as the “low hanging fruits”. This Excursus will introduce existing and innovative financing structures for the dominating energy efficiency opportunities.

Training Approach

The flexibility of our courses offers you the opportunity to follow your own schedule and to combine daily work with professional development.

The high quality offered will immediately improve your daily job performance as well as the performance of your institution.

This program is flexible and self-paced. It offers some online live sessions, such as introduction and final exam preparation sessions. These sessions will be recorded for those who cannot attend live.

Training Material

Video Lectures

Introvideos: After viewing the lectures, participants will have a basic understanding of each topic and will be able to classify importance and relevance of different techniques and aspects in a broader context.
Web-based Presentations: Web based presentation complement the scripts and give additional input on important topics.

Online Tests

Each unit ends with an online test comprising a set of 10 - 15 multiple choice questions. Only after having successfully completed an online test you will gain access to the next unit.

Reading Material

A PDF script is for most of our courses the main studying material. This reading material provides basic concepts and principles applicable to the subject of each unit.

Assignments

The key to successful learning is the immediate use of newly acquired knowledge and the transfer of theory into practice. Our online courses are therefore supplemented by mandatory assignments.

Discussion Forum

A course discussion forum enables the interaction between participants and trainers and facilitates the exchange of experiences as well as possibilities to ask questions or get clarifications.

Suggestions & Recommendations

This course gives you the flexibility to decide on timing and pace of your learning experience. However, we will provide you with recommendations for you to take as much as possible from this course.

Your Schedule: We will provide you a course schedule including voluntary and mandatory deadlines. The course schedule serves as guideline for your personal learning schedule and will help you to complete the programme within the given time frame.

Exercises: Even though the exercises in the script are not mandatory we strongly advise that you use them as an opportunity to check your knowledge and to prepare yourself for the final exam.

Networking opportunities: Use the forum to introduce yourself to your peer participants and start interesting discussions.

Final Exam

Passing a final examination is a requirement for obtaining your certificate.

Location: The final exam takes place online
Duration: The final exam takes 2 hours.
Costs: An additional final exam fee will be charged for the second and third final exam attempts.

If you do not wish to take the final exam, you will receive a confirmation of course participation after completing the course.

Course Details - classroom training

23-24 January 2025

The e-learning course units are complemented by two elective classroom training days at Frankfurt School in Frankfurt, Germany. These days provide the opportunity for participants and trainers to meet in real life for reflection, discussions, deep dives into current trends, and tailored training sessions.

The next classroom training will take place 23-24 Januay 2025 at the Frankfurt School Campus (Frankfurt, Germany). Teaching language will be English, depending on the composition of the participants. Concrete dates will be set in due course.

Course Structure*

Below you find the tentative agenda of the 2-day training. All sessions take place at Frankfurt School.

* Subject to change.

Course Lecturers

Dr. Christine Grüning

Dr. Christine Grüning delivers a strong interdisciplinary background in environmental economics, finance and policy. Since 2011 she is managing and implementing applied research, education and capacity building projects for the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance.

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In her role as director of FS' UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance she combines applied research on policy-relevant topics in climate finance and policy with an orientation towards practical application and final implementation. Her current fields of research are the economics of climate change, barriers on investment in mitigation and adaptation finance, market imperfections, and results-based climate finance. She has been crucial for the success of the annual report “Global Trends in Renewable Energy Finance” in cooperation with Bloomberg New Energy Finance and UN Environment over the last 12 years and the development and implementation of the Certified Expert of Climate Adaptation Finance, Certified Expert of Climate & Renewable Energy Finance and the Adaptation Finance Fellowship Programme (AFFP). Between 1999 and 2004 she studied International Business Administration at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder). She holds a Bachelor Degree in Financial Studies from Manchester Metropolitan University (UK) and a Maestria de Dirección de Empresas (MBA) from the Universidad Católica de Códoba (Argentina). Subsequently she joined the Chair of Public Finance and Environmental Economics at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) and received a doctoral degree in 2010.

Prof. Dr. Ulf Moslener

Prof. Dr. Ulf Moslener is professor for Sustainable Energy Finance at the faculty of Frankfurt School. As Head of Research at the Centre his current fields of research are the economics of climate change, financing sustainable energy systems and climate finance. He represented Germany in the UN Standing Committee on Climate Finance.

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Jan Andreas

Since 1999 Jan G. Andreas is working in the banking sector and gained vast experience in various financial institutions where he specialized in financing of renewable energy projects. He is teaching at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and at the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt.

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During his assignment for the– Collaborating Centre for Sustainable Energy & Climate Finance between 2009 and 2013, he was heading the Competence Centre Sustainable Energy Finance and was co-responsible for the establishment of the Frankfurt School – UNEP Centre.

Since 2013 he was working as Vice President in the commercial division of KfW Bankengruppe (KfW-IPEX Bank) where he was responsible for acquiring and structuring renewable energy projects globally with a focus on the MENA region.

The FS-UNEP Centre

The content of this course was developed by the Frankfurt School - UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance (http://fs-unep-centre.org/). The Centre is a strategic cooperation between Frankfurt School and the UN Environment programme. Its vision is to advance transformation to resilient low-carbon and resource-efficient economies by attracting new types of investors, in particular catalysing the financing of clean energy by the private sector. The Centre is UNEP’s major knowledge hub for climate finance related aspects.

Course contributes to UN SDGs

All our courses contribute to the following SDGs

This course will enhance your knowledge in the following SDGs. The SWA offers professional and executive courses dedicated to the advancement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Beyond your Certificate

Master of Leadership in Sustainable Finance

The Certified Expert in Climate & Renewable Energy Finance is an Elective Module of the Master of Leadership in Sustainable Finance. Join our Master programme after completing the CECRF course and waive one elective module. Also, the amount you paid for the course will be deducted from the final tuition fee of the Master programme.

Frankfurt School Summer Academy

Expand your skills and knowledge in digital finance with the Frankfurt School Summer Academy. This one-week, on-campus programme allows participants to choose from a selection of specialised technical tracks.

Read more about our Sustainable Finance Track here.

Diploma in Green Finance

The Certified Expert in Climate & Renewable Energy Finance is part of the curriculum of our Diploma in Green Finance. Enroll in our Diploma after completing the CECRF course and waive one module. Also, the amount you paid for the course will be deducted from the final tuition fee of the Diploma.