Wharton ESG Essentials 

Program Experience

Highlights and Key Outcomes

In Wharton ESG Essentials, you will:

• Acquire a powerful conceptual foundation for how ESG factors influence value and valuations
• Increase your capacity to engage in and lead ESG conversations and analyses
• Extend your understanding of ESG to prepare for the next wave of risks and opportunities
• Become an informed consumer and analyst of new and alternative ESG data
• Build the skills to examine ESG factors from both internal and external stakeholder perspectives
• Recognize ESG regulations and standards and how they are being applied across the globe
• Evaluate corporate authenticity when building your ESG policy to separate green from greenwash

Experience and Impact

Wharton ESG Essentials will prepare leaders to analyze and evaluate the financial implications of ESG factors on their strategies. The program will walk you through a comprehensive view of the ESG landscape — from the movement’s values-based origins to its increasing focus on financial impact; from its data challenges and measurement issues to new measurement approaches and the broad array of investment and corporate strategies that deploy them.

Participants will acquire not just the analytical skillsets but also the communications playbook needed to effectively articulate the implications of ESG factors to key stakeholders — from competitive positioning to strategies leading change that will help accelerate the ESG traction in organizations.

The program will also look at rising social pressures on firms to address issues of concern to workers, customers, communities, and civil society more broadly. You will assess the efficacy of different corporate strategic responses, particularly as the political environment grows increasingly polarized. Additionally, you will evaluate the role that enterprise risk management, board governance, cross-functional teams, and leaders play in navigating the adoption, implementation, and measurement of firm-wide ESG policies.

Session topics include:

• Evolution from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)
• ESG Measurement Challenge and Approaches
• Climate Transition: Tackling the Risks and the Opportunities
• Social Activism and Corporate Responses
• ESG Leadership

Wharton ESG Executive Certificate 
Participants may take Wharton ESG Essentials as a standalone program, or, for those interested in extending their learning journey, Wharton ESG Essentials serves as the introductory content in theWharton ESG Executive Certificate. This advanced certificate program — offered in specialized tracks for financial professionals, senior leaders, and strategists, respectively — is designed to quickly catapult leaders to the forefront of ongoing ESG decision making.

Participants wishing to pursue an ESG executive certificate can learn more about each specialization and apply here. Participants who have completed Wharton ESG Essentials as a standalone program can apply for and enroll in a certificate track within one year of Essentials completion.

Convince Your Supervisor

Here’s a justification letter you can edit and send to your supervisor to help you make the case for attending this Wharton program.

Due to our application review period, applications submitted after 12:00 p.m. ET on Friday for programs beginning the following Monday may not be processed in time to grant admission. Applicants will be contacted by a member of our Client Relations Team to discuss options for future programs and dates.