Esg And Sustainable Investing 101
Tags: Investing
Discover sustainable investing | 1 hour visual and engaging course | Quizzes and assignments
Last updated 2022-01-10 | 4.3
- ESG and Sustainable Investing- Responsible Investing
- ESG Investing Strategies
What you'll learn
* Requirements
* Understanding of English language and basic understanding of business conceptsDescription
This is an introductory course on Sustainable Investing and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Factors.
Course is designed to meet the needs of individuals that would like to work in the sustainable finance field.
This course is not a guide for constructing an individual ESG portfolio and does not provide investment recommendations.
Level: Beginner
****Ideal for individuals with no background knowledge on ESG Investing topic***. For a more advanced courses on Sustainable Finance courses, please refer to ED4S website.
Learning Outcomes
Being educated on environmental, social and governance factors is becoming a key in successful integrated business and investment management.
Whether you are a ✔️ Financial advisor, ✔️ Finance professional, ✔️ Student, ✔️ Passionate about sustainability; this course will allow you to catch up and build awareness about interconnection of the ESG and investment management.
Financial industry is evolving at a rapid speed; demand for Sustainable and Socially Responsible Investments is raising on both individual and institutional investor's side. Integration of material environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into financial analysis has proven to enrich fundamental analysis and result in better risk adjusted returns.
This course will allow you to understand the difference between ESG or Sustainable Investing and Ethical or Socially Responsible Investing. You will learn about the foundation and current state of the market as well as basic terms and concepts used in the field. We will cover some more specific environmental, social and governance factors and risks (climate change, water scarcity, biodiversity loss, employee diversity, human rights, data privacy, board independence and cyber security). Bridging ESG factors and financial performance will bring clarity on interrelationship between these extra-financial issues and risk/return outcomes.
Course will give you an overview of the seven main ESG Investing strategies: negative screening, positive screening, best in-class , norms based screening, ESG integration, impact investing and shareholder engagement. It will provide examples of how ESG factors can be integrated into the financial valuation models.
Multiple quizzes and an assignment will keep you actively engaged in the course.
To apply your knowledge you will conduct a case study analysis on Putnam Sustainable Leaders Fund.
We will wrap up with key takeaways from the course.
All students are welcome to join our community forum where we continue to share knowledge with you by posting articles, research papers and announcing pertinent webinars.
COURSE OUTLINE:
ESG, Sustainable Investing and Socially Responsible Investing
Terms and Concepts (SASB, TCFD, PRI)
Environmental Factors
Social Factors
Governance Factors
Bridging ESG and Financial Performance
ESG Investment Strategies
ESG in Financial Analysis
Performance of ESG Strategies
Career in Sustainable Investing
Case Study Assignment - Putnam Sustainable Leaders Fund
Key Takeaways
REFERENCES:
Sustainable investment: A new landscape, Monika Dutt, OECD Observer
Understanding sustainable investment and ESG term, Schroder Investment Management North America Inc.
HSBC Sustainable Financing and ESG Investing report, HSBC Bank, 2018
ESG Funds Might Soon Have to Prove to SEC They’re Actually ESG, By Benjamin Bain, March 2, 2020,
The Global Risks Report 2020, World Economic Forum, 15th edition
Global Climate Change, NASA
Investing in a Time of Climate Change — The Sequel, Mercer, 2019
BBC, Science & Environment, Climate change: Should you fly, drive or take the train?
Coffee’s Invisible Carbon Footprint
United States Environmental Protection Agency, Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator
A practical guide to ESG integration for equity Investing
Climate Transition Risk for General Insurers, the Actuaries Institute Climate Change Working Group, Michelle Dong, Sharanjit Paddam, Stephanie Wong, Nov 2018
ESG INTEGRATION: HOW ARE SOCIAL ISSUES INFLUENCING INVESTMENT DECISIONS?, UN PRI, Justin Sloggett, CFA, Bettina Reinboth
Most big companies failing U.N. human rights test, ranking shows, Umberto Bacchi, NOVEMBER 11, 2018
Green Finance Is Now $31 Trillion and Growing, By Reed Landberg, Annie Massa and Demetrios Pogkas, June 7, 2019
2018 Global Sustainable Investment review, Global Sustainable Investment Alliance
RIA Canada website
Morgan Stanley, Sustainable Reality Analyzing Risk and Returns of Sustainable Funds
Better Munis Worse, Evaluating ESG Effects on Risk and Return, by Patrick Wang, Morningstar Quantitative Research, Feb 20, 2020,
From the stockholder to the stakeholder, How sustainability can drive financial performance, G. Clark, a. Feiner, M.Viehs, University of Oxford, Arabesque Partners, March 2015
Gunnar Friede, Timo Busch & Alexander Bassen (2015) ESG and financial performance: aggregated evidence from more than 2000 empirical studies, Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, 5:4, 210-233, DOI: 10.1080/20430795.2015.1118917
GIIN website
RBC, Does Socially Responsible Investing Hurt Investment Returns
CREDITS:
Content review: Marie-Josée Privyk, CFA, RIPC, SASB FSA Credential holder, ESG Advisor
Music: "Keys of Moon - The Epic Hero" is under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-SA 3.0) Music promoted by BreakingCopyright
Who this course is for:
- Financial Advisors
- Portfolio Managers
- Investors
- Business Students
- Curious about Sustainability
Course content
6 sections • 32 lectures
Introduction Preview 01:05
Financial landscape is changing. There is an increased interest in ESG, responsible investing and impact investing. Why is this happening and what does it affect investment professionals?
Who is this course for? Preview 00:32
About the Course Preview 00:34
Course Curriculum Overview Preview 01:23
About your Instructor Preview 02:12
What is Sustainable Investing? Preview 01:37
Navigating Sustainable Investing Terms Preview 03:10
Sustainable Investing Overview Preview 02:19
Market Size Preview 02:37
Quiz - Lecture 4
Testing on information covered in this section
Terminology and Concepts Preview 03:14
Quiz - Lecture 5
Environmental Factors Preview 10:22
Quiz - Lecture 6
Social Factors Preview 05:38
Quiz - Lecture 7
Governance Factors Preview 03:36
Quiz - Lecture 8
Bridging ESG Factors and Financial Performance Preview 03:16
Interview with a Practitioner Preview 06:24
Tamara Close has over 20 years of combined experience in capital markets and ESG strategy. She is based in Montreal and works with investment management firms and asset owners to advance their ESG integration practices across both risk and value frameworks. She was previously Managing Director and Head of ESG Integration for KKS Advisors, a leading, independent, global advisory firm. She recently developed and successfully launched an industry-leading ESG integration maturity assessment model for investment managers, providing standardized industry best practices benchmarking in a scalable technology-driven solution. She has held various investment management positions for the Bank of Montreal and Credit Lyonnais in the global derivatives and foreign exchange markets and was previously the head of research and risk for a start-up fixed income asset management firm in Montreal. Prior to launching CGC, Tamara spent over 10 years in senior management roles within the risk and public markets investment groups of PSP Investments, a major Canadian pension fund. She is also the founder and creator of the Sustainable Risk Assessment Framework.
ESG Investment Strategies Preview 09:57
Quiz - Lecture 10
ESG in Financial Analysis Preview 07:24
This section is more advanced and dives deeper into integration of material environmental, social and governance factors in equity valuation. This section is recommended for individuals with prior understanding of fundamental valuation models such as discount cash flow analysis.
Performance Preview 03:40
Quiz - Lecture 12
Careers in ESG Preview 04:08
Key Takeaways Preview 01:47
We have compiled a list of courses and designation available for you if you would like to pursue a career in Sustainable Finance and earn a designation. In no particular order.
Resources and Forum Preview 00:22
Final assignment
Congratulations on having completed this introductory course on ESG and Sustainable Investing. We truly hope that this course allowed you to see finance in a different light. This assignment is intended to guide your reflection on how these concepts could be applied in your realities.