Reflecting sustainability criteria, especially climate change, in financial markets is increasingly gaining attention as opportunities and risks arising in this context are changing business practices. The course will prepare participants to understand major drivers and constraints of transforming the financial system to a more sustainable one. Furthermore, it will familiarize participants with the business, regulatory and technical perspective of sustainable finance and will acquaint them to take an active part in the discussion around the topic. The course aims to enable financial professionals to integrate Sustainable Finance related aspects into their work through new knowledge and tools for advising their clients and business partners.
The online course can be complemented by a classroom component. This is voluntary and not a requirement to get certified by Frankfurt School. You can either book each of them individually or as a package.
You want to take the course in German language? No problem, please click on the following link to get access to the website in German: CESFi
The development and implementation of this course is supported by:
What Do We Offer?
Tuition Fees
E-Learning
Registration Date | Fee |
Before Jan 15, 2022 | EUR 1,350* |
After Jan 15, 2022 | EUR 1,550* |
Classroom
Registration Date | Fee |
Before Feb 15, 2022 | EUR 1,350* |
After Feb 15, 2022 | EUR 1,550* |
Package (e-learning + classroom)
Registration Date | Fee |
Before Jan 15, 2022 | EUR 2,400* |
After Jan 15, 2022 | EUR 2,650* |
Final exam fee: An additional final exam fee will be charged for the second and third final exam attempt
Discounts:
Payment in instalments is unfortunately not possible.
*The next classroom training will take place in May 2022. If less than 16 participants register, the classroom training won’t take place and the fee will be refunded.
Target Audience
Finance experts and professionals, including retail bankers, financial advisors, asset managers, risk managers etc. and all other financial industry professionals interested in the topic of sustainable finance.
Workload
The course takes approx. 6 months assuming 5-8 hours of self-study per week. It consists of 8 mandatory units, which build upon each other.
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. 28 | Jun. 1 - Sept. 1 | by Jul. 15 |
Mar. 1 | Aug. 31 | Dec. 1 - Mar. 1 | by Jan. 15 |
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).
Registrations for the intake starting on 1 September 2022 will open on 1 June. Benefit from our Early Bird discount by registering before 15 July.
The course starts with an introduction to the Sustainable Finance and the necessary transformation of the financial sector before providing a broad overview on the sustainable investment strategies and products. Next, three topical deep dives will allow the participants to understand the topics Environmental, Social and Governmental (ESG) data, Sustainable ratings and labels as well as scenario analysis and science based targets. Real life business case examples round up the course and share best practices and lessons learned. Through the assignment exercise the participants conclude the course, implementing their new acquired knowledge while benefitting from support and feedback from our experienced trainer team.
General information for the online course and classroom training
Suggestions & Recommendations
While you decide on the timing and pace of your learning experience we would like to give you some recommendations on how to get the most out of 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 completing the programme within the given time frame.
Assignments: With the assignments you will learn how to apply the knowledge learned during the course. It is important that you take time to read the necessary material and to solve the assignment.
Networking Opportunities: Use the forum to introduce yourself to your peers and start interesting discussions.
Unit 1: Sustainble Finance - from niche to mainstream
Unit 1 will set the scene and introduce participants to the world of sustainability and how it affects financial institutions’ operations. It will also provide a broad overview on the different rationales why integrating sustainability considerations into business decisions can be important. Furthermore, Unit 1 summarizes existing trends and developments as well as leading industry initiatives.
Unit 3: Sustainable financial products
Unit 3 will provide insights to major sustainable financial products on debt and equity side (e.g. ESG and green bonds, sustainable equity funds, sustainable lending etc.). Furthermore, it will provide an outlook on market development and discuss the offer and demand side for sustainable financial products.
Unit 5: ESG data
Unit 5 will shed light into the universe of environmental, social and governance (ESG) data. It will provide an overview of the different sources, users and purposes of use for ESG data. Furthermore, it will tackle the difficulties and limitations related to ESG data.
Unit 7: Climate scenario analysis
This Unit will make participants familiar with climate-related scenario analysis tools and science-based targets. It will outline why using such tools can be helpful for financial institutions to steer risks and opportunities on a company level but also in the due diligence process.
Assignments - applying your knowledge
In this exercise, each participant has to prepare the solution to a given assignment. The assignments are a bit more extensive case studies followed by a number of questions. The participant needs to answer these question in writing. Passing the assignment is a precondition to register for the final exam.
Unit 2: The financial sector - enabling the transformation
Unit 2 will take a look on the economic side of sustainable finance. It will discuss the role of the financial system in the transformation to a low carbon and more sustainable economy. Furthermore, the Unit will provide a compendium on recent regulatory trends in financial markets worldwide and dare to take an outlook what may evolve in the future.
Unit 4: Sustainable investment strategies and methodologies
Unit 4 will explain major methodological approaches to measure and manage the non-financial impact of investments and how these approaches can be used for developing sustainable investment strategies. Furthermore, it will prepare the participants for the three deep dive Units 5, 6 and 7.
Unit 6: ESG- Ratings & labels
Unit 6 will provide an overview of existing ratings and labels. It will take a look into the methodologies of sustainable rating agencies and how ratings can be used and interpreted. Besides, it will assess labels in a similar way while discussing challenges that relate to ratings and labels.
Unit 8: Case Studies
This Unit will provide two real life case studies that guide participants to dive into social success note and impact fund. Participants will be required to summarize / compose a short case on their own applying the newly acquired knowledge from this unit and the previous units.
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.
Training Material
Video Lectures
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.
Final Exam
Passing a final examination is a requirement for obtaining your certificate.
If you do not wish to take the final exam, you will receive a confirmation of course participation after completing the course.
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 and deep-dives into current trends as well as tailored training sessions.
The next classroom training will take place from 12th - 13th May 2022 at Frankfurt School Campus (Frankfurt, Germany). Teaching language will be English or English/German, depending of the composition of the participants.
Below you find the tentative agenda of the 2-day-training. All sessions take place at Frankfurt School's new Campus, Adickesallee 32-34, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
* Subject to change.
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 is a board member of the newly founded Green and Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany, which support the process of transformation to a green and sustainable economy through innovative and scalable support from the financial industry. More...
Karsten Löffler co-heads the FS-UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance. He represents the Green and Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany on the EU commission’s Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance and is managing director of the Cluster since December 2017. In June 2019, he became Chairman of the Sustainable Finance Advisory Board of the German Government. More...
Menglu Neupert-Zhuang is a sustainable finance expert and researcher at the Frankfurt School-UNEP Centre. She has extensive practical working experiences in the area of climate and sustainable finance. Amongst others, she was a key team member in the projects Developing Sustainable Energy Investment Metrics for the Financial Sector (SEI Metrics) funded by the European Commission and Results-based Climate Finance Initiative mapping, Outlining and Assessment supported by the World Bank. More...
Dr. Anne Michaels, Manager Sustainability Services, PwC GmbH WPG
Dina Lorentz, Director for Sustainable Finance, Dentons LLP Europe
Karl H Richter, Executive Director, EngagedX
Prof. Dr. Christian Klein, Professor for Corporate Finance, University of Kassel
Dr. Martin Granzow, CEO, Nextra Consulting
The content of this course was developed by the Frankfurt School - UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance (https://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.
Master of Leadership in Sustainable Finance
The Certified Expert in Sustainable Finance is an Elective Module of the Master of Leadership in Sustainable Finance. Join our Master programme after completing the CESFi 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.
Diploma in Green Finance
The Certified Expert in Sustainable Finance is part of the curriculum of our Diploma in Green Finance. Enroll to our Diploma after completing the CESFi course and waive one module. Also, the amount you paid for the course will be deducted from the final tuition fee of the Diploma.