Sustainable Corporate Financing: Foundations (edX)

Course 1: Sustainable Corporate Financing – Foundations

Recent global developments have increasingly led to the issues of climate change and sustainable development being addressed. Different actors in the financial sector have started to account for sustainability issues in their daily operations. In addition to regulatory pressures, stakeholder demands, increasing transparency, and comparability of sustainability data contribute to the financial sector's move towards sustainability. While sustainability has been gaining popularity in the investment business for several years now, it is only beginning in corporate finance.

The course “Sustainable Corporate Financing – Foundations” will provide the foundations of corporate finance with a particular focus on how sustainability aspects relate to corporate financing decisions. Four action areas regarding sustainable corporate financing are elaborated on and discussed. Theoretical know-how will be accompanied by case studies and practical examples.

These applications are meant to support participants' work on capabilities beyond the scope of this course, such as the critical reflection of public information and data and the feasibility to form their own opinion.

This course is part of the Sustainable Corporate Financing Professional Certificate.

What you'll learn

Course 1: Sustainable Corporate Financing – Foundations

You will learn to:

- Apply basic know-how to traditional financings, such as equity financings, debt financing, and bond financing

- Discuss the increasing relevance of sustainability for the financial sector and other firms

- Define sustainability in the context of finance

- Differentiate and critically discuss approaches to quantify sustainability at the level of the company (e.g., ESG ratings, impact assessment, ESG reporting)

- Differentiate investor sustainability strategies

- Assess and compare different sustainability focus areas and strategies of companies

- Discuss possibilities to integrate sustainability aspects as part of the traditional financing options and understand the need for additional solutions to finance transition and sustainability solutions.