Wharton ESG Executive Certificate for Financial Professionals

Program Experience

Highlights and Key Outcomes

In the Wharton ESG Executive Certificate for Financial Professionals program, you will:

• Enhance your ability to integrate ESG factors into diverse investment strategies across asset classes
• Gain a deeper understanding of carbon markets, what determines the carbon price, and recent carbon-market developments that investors should be aware of
• Assess how markets for carbon and other policy-induced financial incentives affect share prices across a wide variety of sectors, with an emphasis on the strategic and financial implications for participants' own organizations
• Learn how climate finance is deeply connected to climate policy and how government regulation has given rise to financial markets for carbon and renewable energy certificates
• Identify climate leaders and laggards across industries and those poised to seize transition opportunities
• Understand how complex regulations give rise to financial markets for carbon and renewable energy certificates and how this impacts the profitability of various industries
• Analyze financial implications of different political risks and future scenarios from geopolitical to national to local levels
• Anticipate ESG shareholder activism and engagement as well as their impacts

The Wharton ESG Executive Certificate for Financial Professionals is comprised of one month of introductory content (Wharton ESG Essentials) immediately followed by an additional month of specialized investing content. This advanced certificate is designed to quickly catapult financial leaders and professionals to the forefront of ongoing ESG decision making, empowering them to act as informed, prepared catalysts for change.

Experience and Impact

In the Wharton ESG Executive Certificate for Financial Professionals program, you will build on the foundation acquired in Wharton ESG Essentials to dive deeper into investment strategies that tap ESG data and insight — be it through accepted best practices or emerging levers. Whether you pursue fundamental analysis, value-based investing, factor models, screens or tilts, quant models, event-based trading strategies, impact investing, or thematically oriented focused efforts on different ESG factors, you will see the rapidly evolving frontier of the field and develop the skills needed to push it forward. The discussion will also look beyond publicly traded equities to private markets, corporate and public fixed income, real estate, and alternative investment assets.

You will gain a better understanding of climate finance — how carbon markets and others drive the energy transition, and how to identify firms benefiting from climate transition tailwinds as well as headwinds within and across industries. The program will examine perspectives on the green technology and innovation sector, where cost curves are rapidly evolving, threatening to sunset some industries while accelerating the growth of new ones. And you will learn to map green supply chains to see the bottlenecks that will generate short-term inflationary pressures and medium- to long-term investment opportunities. You will also learn about the rapidly growing market for green bonds and what they can and can’t offer in terms of impact.

The program will also explore geopolitical scenarios for the world economy over the next decade and their implications for portfolio construction. And from a governance standpoint, you will learn about the risk factors that make some firms more likely to face shareholder activism and less capable or successful in their response. You will also develop tools and tactics for more sophisticated engagement with firms to unlock value.

Session topics include:

• ESG and Impact Investing
• Climate Finance and Economics
• Shareholder Activism
• Socio-Political Risk

Interactive Highlights Include:

• 2030 Scenarios – Consider four distinct potential geopolitical scenarios for 2030 and their implications for investors today. Explore non-traditional datasets that can offer insight into socio-political risks and the efficacy of mitigation strategies including a contrast between divestment and engagement.
• Panel Discussion – Actively participate in a discussion with Wharton experts on how climate risk affects the pricing of publicly traded equities and debt. Develop insights into how markets such as energy, transportation, and real estate drive the energy transition and learn how climate risk impacts the pricing of their equities.

Those interested in learning more about Wharton ESG Essentials, or additional ESG specialized certificates, can visit here.

Participants who have successfully 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.