ELE 3914 Sustainable Finance
ELE 3914 Sustainable Finance
Our society faces massive climatic- and environmental challenges - on a global scale. At the same time, we see recurrent violations of human rights and the practice of unethical business models. Standard finance and economic models ignore environmental and social concerns. Nature and its services are assumed freely available. However, the world’s current situation clearly demonstrate that ecological resources are limited. Business, finance and economic models of the future must therefore incorporate social equity concerns and scarcity of environmental resources if they are to be useful tools to address sustainability issues.
How can companies internalize their impact on society? How can Corporate Governance accommodate this? How can long-term institutional owners contribute help companies reach their long-term sustainability goals? How will this affect companies’ choice of strategy and business models? How can integrated reporting facilitate the transparency of long-term goals, their status and progress?
These are some of the questions addressed in this course. In addition, you will learn how sustainability can be integrated in the different sectors of the financial industry such as the banking industry and the equity market and bond market.
By completion of the course, you should:
- Understand the scope of the climatic- and environmental challenges our society faces and how economics and finance play a central role in solving these.
- Understand the different levels of sustainable finance – from sustainable finance 1.0 to sustainable finance 3.0.
- Understand what are externalities, how these could be internalized and the regulatory authorities’ role in this.
- Understand how Corporate Governance could facilitate the attainment of sustainability goals.
- Understand how the formulation of sustainability goals affect the choice of strategy and business model.
- Understand how ESG (ESG: Environmental, Social and Governance) could be integrated into the valuation of financial instruments like stocks and bonds.
- Understand the barriers and incentives behind sustainable loans – loans to sustainable projects.
By completion of the course, you should be able to:
- Address environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in companies.
- Identify externalities and possibilities for internalization.
- Evaluate the Corporate Governance of companies and how this contribute in reaching sustainability goals.
- Evaluate the degree of sustainability of companies’ strategies and business models.
- Apply updated financial models to evaluate financial instruments like stocks, bonds and loans.
Students should develop a critical sense to existing business practice and models. In addition, students should understand how finance could contribute to a more efficient transition to a sustainable society.
- The concept of sustainability – from the Brundtland commission to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Planetary Boundaries.
- The different aspects of sustainability:
- Sustainable development,
- Sustainable finance and
- Sustainable business models.
- The different levels of sustainable finance – from sustainable finance 1.0 to sustainable finance 3.0.
- Externalities and internalization
- Corporate governance and sustainability
- The role of strategy and business models in the transition to sustainable business practices.
- Investing and Long-term Value creation (LTVC)
- ESG-integration into the valuation of stocks and bonds
- Banking and new assessments of lending
On campus lectures and digital learning components.
Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class.
This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course starts.
At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.
Higher Education Entrance Qualification
Disclaimer
Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.
An introductory course in finance.
| Assessments |
|---|
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 20 Grouping: Group (2 - 3) Duration: 2 Week(s) Exam code: ELE 39141 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 30 Grouping: Group (2 - 3) Duration: 2 Week(s) Exam code: ELE 39141 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Invigilation Weight: 50 Grouping: Individual Support materials:
Duration: 3 Hour(s) Comment: Written school exam Exam code: ELE 39141 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
| Activity | Duration | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Teaching | 28 Hour(s) | |
Prepare for teaching | 39 Hour(s) | |
Student's own work with learning resources | 30 Hour(s) | |
Group work / Assignments | 100 Hour(s) | |
Examination | 3 Hour(s) |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 7,5 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 200 hours.