FSDF e-Campus | Certified Expert in Sustainable Finance

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?

An interactive e-learning course including video lectures, PDF scripts, examples, practical exercises, online tests and case studies.
A discussion forum for course related issues as well as for exchange of opinions and experiences with tutors, peers or the FSDF e-Campus team.
Personalized support from your e-Campus team.
The possibility to achieve a Frankfurt School certificate after passing the final exam or a confirmation of course completion after completing the course.
An international network of institutions hosting our final exam all over the world.
Optional: 2-day classroom training in Frankfurt, Germany (for further information see below)

Tuition Fees

E-Learning

Registration Date	Fee
Before Jan 15, 2021	EUR 1.395*
After Jan 15, 2021	EUR 1.550*

Classroom

Registration Date	Fee
Before Jan 15, 2021	EUR 1.395*
After Jan 15, 2021	EUR 1.550*

Package (e-learning + classroom)

Registration Date	Fee
Before Jan15, 2021	EUR 2.400*
After Jan 15, 2021	EUR 2.650*

Final exam fee (only online component): 50 EUR (included in the abovementioned tuition fees).

Certificate fee: After passing the final exam you will receive a digital certificate. Should you wish to receive a hard copy of your certificate as well, an administrative fee of EUR 50 will be charged.

Discounts:

10% group discount (for 2 or mre participants working for the same institution)
10% for FS Alumni

Payment Options

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

Payment in instalments is unfortunately not possible.

*The next classroom training will take place in January 2021. 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

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).

Course Details - e-learning

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

Each of the courses can either be booked individually or as a package.
You will receive the certificate only after successful completion of the e-learning course. The participation at the classroom training is voluntary and does not affect the participation at the e-learning course.
However, the classroom training is closely related to the contents in selected units of the online course.
For further questions please contact your e-Campus Team (e-campus@fs.de)

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 your peers and start interesting discussions.

Course Structure

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.

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.

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.

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: The final exam fee (50 EUR) is included in the tuition fee.
Certificate: Your digital certificate will be available upon passing the final examination. Should you prefer receiving a printed version of your certificate, an administrative fee of EUR 50 per certificate will be charged.

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

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 28th until 29th January 2021 at Frankfurt School Campus (Frankfurt, Germany). Teaching language will be Englisch or Englisch/German, depending of the composition of the participants.

Course Structure*

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.

Register here: classroom training

* Subject to change.

Course lecturers

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 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

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 Zhuang

Menglu 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...

Further course trainers and experts

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 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.

Packages

Beyond your Certificate:

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.