GRA 6566 ESG and Sustainability Disclosure, Reporting and Regulation

GRA 6566 ESG and Sustainability Disclosure, Reporting and Regulation

Course code: 
GRA 6566
Department: 
Law and Governance
Credits: 
6
Course coordinator: 
Bruno Gerard
Morten Kinander
Course name in Norwegian: 
ESG and Sustainability Disclosure, Reporting and Regulation
Product category: 
Master
Portfolio: 
MSc in Sustainable Finance
Semester: 
2023 Spring
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

The objectives of this course are five fold

  • Identify the dimensions of an organization ESG impact or performance: the activities/operations of the firm which create or destroy environmental and/or social value and the social, environmental and regulatory factors in that affect the organization’s activities and performance)
  • Become familiar with the different regulatory and voluntary frameworks used to assess, disclose and report ESG risks, and the economic tools to measure the positive and negative impacts of ESG risks
  • Provide an in dept coverage of the EU Taxonomy Regulation (TR), the associated directives for Non Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) and the projected Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) for corporations, as well as the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) for financial products. Services.
  • Cover the principles of greenhouse gas (GHG) and Carbon disclosures as proposed by the TCFD.
  • Describe the main sources of ESG performance ratings, and discuss their uses and limitations.

A useful framework to help identify the ESG challenges and opportunities of organization is the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In the process of discussing how EU ESG related regulations apply to EU and non‐EU firms, we will develop and discuss specific examples of the application of the Taxonomy Regulation to both operating firms and financial products. By the same token discussion of the NFRD and CSRD, as well as of the SFDR and their implementation will be based on practical examples drawn from the European and Norwegian firms.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge

By the end of the course, the students will

  • Be familiar with the different frameworks used to measure impact and assess materiality of ESG and sustainability factors.
  • Be cognizant of the major global reporting frameworks for disclosure of ESG metrics and sustainability performance (IR, CDP, TCFD,...).
  • Be familiar with the EU Taxonomy Regulation, NFRD, CSRD, and SFDR, to whom they apply, the requirements they impose and the metrics to assess compliance.
  • Be knowledgeable of the scope, extent and differences of voluntary (CFA, IIRC, GRI) and regulatory (EU, SEC, …) disclosure standards.
  • Be familiar with the different sources of ESG performance and risk data, their history, weaknesses and strengths.
Learning outcomes - Skills
  • Identify the activities/operations of the firm which create or destroy environmental and/or social value (ESG risks) – using the SDG as reference
  • Measure the positive and negative impacts of ESG & sustainability risks and opportunities to incorporate in corporate reporting using the GRI or the IIRC frameworks
  • Use the TR technical annexes to determine whether the activities of a firm or a fund are compliant with the taxonomy’s objective or not.
  • Identify the disclosure requirements for specific firms and financial products as defined in the NFRD, the proposed CSRD, and the SFDR.
  • Determine the extent to which corporate GHG emissions disclosure satisfy the TCFD requirements.
  • Able to access various databases of corporate ESG performance and assess the quality and weaknesses of different measures and sources.
General Competence

Since the field is in rapid change, the students will learn to identify the appropriate sources for overview of sustainability disclosure regulatory changes and of ESG risk measurement, reporting and disclosure, and how to keep track of relevant regulatory changes. In addition, they will also learn how integrate new sources of sustainability risks and opportunities within their reporting framework, how to assess their materiality and how to adjust the firm’s optimal reporting, and disclosure policy accordingly.

Course content
  • General introduction to the sources of ESG Risk for corporations and investors
  • Why measure ESG and sustainability risks and opportunities
    1. Risk management and strategic opportunites
    2. Regulatory requirements: EU and associated countries (Norway)
  • Assessing ESG Risks and Opportunities
    1. Identifying an organization’s main impacts: where the organization creates (positive impact) or destroys value (negative impact), in terms of financial, environmental and social performance.
    2. Identifying the external social, environmental and regulatory factors that affect the organization’s operations
    3. Measuring impact and identifying what really matters.
      • Measurement frameworks: UN SDG, <IR>, ….
      • Materiality determination: SASB, …
  • Reporting and Disclosing ESG Performance
    1. Voluntary Reporting Standards: <IR>, TCFD (Task force on Climate related Financial Disclosures), etc
    2. Sustainability compliance: EU Taxonomy
    3. Regulatory Disclosure Requirements
      • For corporations: EU Taxonomy, NFRD, CSRD
      • For financial products: EU Taxonomy, SFDR
  • An integrated approach to ESG disclosure and risk management: the TCFD approach on governance, strategy and performance indicators on climate related impact.
  • Assessing corporate ESG performance: ratings
    1. Main firm ESG performance data sources: KLD, Sustainalytics, Robeco, Refinitiv, Bloomberg, …
    2. Strengths and weaknesses of different sources.
    3. Parsing and combining ESG performance data for improved assessments.
Teaching and learning activities

The learning activities will combine for 2/3 lectures, 1/6 case discussions, and 1/6 external guest speakers. Students are expected to prepare the lectures and guest speakers by reading assigned materials and participate actively in the discussion of the lecture topics and guest speakers' presentations. The course will include the preparation and discussion of two cases or applied assignments on ESG disclosure, reporting and/or compliance. There will be various assignments throughout the course, including preparing reports for each of the cases, and in class presentations of the case reports. Most learning will take place through student discussions of papers, cases, and other assignments.

Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Additional information

The current reading list is preliminary and incomplete. Further articles and readings may be assigned at the start and during the course of the semester.

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.

Qualifications

All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have specific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.

Disclaimer

Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.

Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Activity
Form of assessment: 
Class participation
Weight: 
10
Grouping: 
Individual
Duration: 
1 Semester(s)
Comment: 
Individual
Exam code: 
GRA 65661
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: 
10
Grouping: 
Group (3 - 4)
Duration: 
2 Week(s)
Comment: 
Case 1
Exam code: 
GRA 65661
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: 
20
Grouping: 
Group (3 - 4)
Duration: 
3 Week(s)
Comment: 
Company report/Case 2
Exam code: 
GRA 65661
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: 
60
Grouping: 
Individual
Support materials: 
  • BI-approved exam calculator
  • Simple calculator
  • Bilingual dictionary, Native tongue - English
Duration: 
3 Hour(s)
Comment: 
Individual written exam under supervision
Exam code: 
GRA 65661
Grading scale: 
Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Type of Assessment: 
Continuous assessment
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Total weight: 
100
Student workload
ActivityDurationComment
Teaching
24 Hour(s)
Group work / Assignments
30 Hour(s)
Student's own work with learning resources
48 Hour(s)
Examination
3 Hour(s)
Prepare for teaching
48
Feedback activities and counselling
12
Sum workload: 
165

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.

Semesters

Translations