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
  • 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.

Blended Online Program Structure

This program's blended format is designed to produce maximum, immediate impact for the busy executive. Participants will join live online sessions for two hours once a week over eight weeks. Sessions will be led by award-winning Wharton faculty who are pioneering academic research and leading the dialogue in the rapidly evolving ESG field.

Broadcasted and facilitated live from a technologically advanced classroom, the program prioritizes live engagement and employs a host of instructional modalities to enhance the learning experience: in-class discussions, case work, small-group breakout sessions, role playing, and several competitive and engaging simulations. In addition, participants will work through self-paced content at their convenience in between live sessions.

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

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.

Who Should Attend

Wharton ESG Executive Certificate for Financial Professionals is designed for executives leading change in the ESG field who specialize in the financial services sector. This includes investment professionals, bankers, portfolio managers, private equity professionals and venture capitalists, hedge fund managers, financial advisors and analysts, and business leaders making sustainable investment decisions. The specialized track is also suited for professionals interested in the intersection of corporate sustainability and financial analysis.

Fluency in English, written and spoken, is required for participation in Wharton Executive Education programs unless otherwise indicated.

Faculty


Witold Henisz

Witold Henisz, PhDSee Faculty Bio

Academic Director

Vice Dean and Faculty Director, ESG Initiative; Deloitte & Touche Professor of Management in Honor of Russell E. Palmer, former Managing Partner

Research Interests: Political and social risk management; project management; ESG integration; stakeholder engagement


Arthur Van Benthem

Arthur van Benthem, PhDSee Faculty Bio

Associate Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, Faculty Co-Director, Wharton Climate Center

Research Interests: Energy economics, environmental economics, public economics


Chris Geczy

Christopher Geczy, PhDSee Faculty Bio

Adjunct Professor of Finance; Academic Director, Wharton Wealth Management Initiative; Academic Director, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Center for Quantitative Financial Research, The Wharton School


Mary-Hunter McDonnell

Mary-Hunter McDonnell, JD, PhDSee Faculty Bio

Associate Professor of Management; Faculty Co-Director, Zicklin Center for Governance and Business Ethics

Research Interests: Organizational theory (political sociology, institutional theory); nonmarket strategy; corporate governance; corporate misconduct and punishment

Date, Location, & Fees

September 1 – October 31, 2023Live Online$6,750Every Wednesday for four consecutive weeks in September
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. EDT
AND
Every Monday for four consecutive weeks in October
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. EDT


Download the program schedule, including session details and format.

Download ScheduleApply Now

Prices are subject to change.


Contact Us

Schedule a personalized consultation to discuss your professional goals:

 +1.215.898.1776

 execed@wharton.upenn.edu

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