The ESG Investing: Setting Standards & Conducting Analysis course provides students with basic knowledge of traditional financial products with some fundamental concepts to help better define what ESG is, including the rationale behind its inception, and how it has developed. Through the series of video, webinar, and reading modules in this course, you’ll learn how to identify and describe the basic principles underpinning the “E”, “S” and “G” in ESG, as well as obtain a brief background of ESG’s origins and evolution.
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You should also acquire insights into certain global and domestic goals and frameworks that drive and support issuers’ ESG agendas for economic, financial, and ethical purposes, as well as learn how to examine and construct different investment strategies aligned with investment returns, such as negative/exclusionary screening and integration. You should also gain a clearer view of how businesses form their ESG strategies, as well as some of the risks they face, and how they may be mitigated.
Course 1 of 4 in the ESG Investing: Financial Decisions in Flux Specialization.
What You Will Learn
- Describe how environmental, social and governance principles originated and how related practices have been evolving in the financial markets.
- Identify global initiatives that helped drive, and continue to support, the framework for ESG investing.
- Differentiate the risks a company may face when analyzing it for “E”, “S”, and “G” factors.
- Provide details about certain business sector trends such as those in water and waste management, clean transportation, and energy.
Syllabus
WEEK 1
ESG's Origins & Evolution
How have environmental, social, and governance issues come to influence the financial markets and investors’ decision-making? In this introductory module, you will learn how ESG was derived from socially responsible investing (SRI) practices through some examples of its impacts in the 20th century, including the establishment of the Community Reinvestment Act and the formation of the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. Building on these events, the UN published pivotal reports that led to the integration of ESG factors in the financial markets, spurring a flurry of related, supporting initiatives such as the Principles for Responsible Investing (PRI), the International Integrated Reporting Council, and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), among others.
WEEK 2
ESG Investing: Industry Insights – Gabelli Funds (Parts 1-3)
The further we progress in this specialization, the more you may spot certain unresolved issues within the ESG investing framework, beginning, perhaps, with how ESG investing itself is defined. The following webinar, “Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG): The Three Hottest Words in Investing”, presented by Gabelli Funds, will further explore the meaning of ESG investing through some of its objectives, including altering corporate behavior by influencing the cost of capital, mitigating idiosyncratic risks, and identifying investment opportunities in areas such as geological and social change.
Among other topics, the presentation will also dive into some sustainability themes, including energy, water and waste management, as well as addresses why ESG investing remains a work in progress, and offers insights into some developments market participants may anticipate.
WEEK 3
ESG Investing: Industry Insights – Gabelli Funds (Parts 4-6)
The “Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG): The Three Hottest Words in Investing” webinar continues with Chris Marangi, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, responding to participants questions. In this Q&A series, Marangi addresses climate change, and supply chains, then offers insights into nuclear power, integrated oil companies, and performing due diligence. He also addresses ESG and related volatility concerns. Please keep in mind that we may explore some of these topics more in depth later in the specialization.
WEEK 4
ESG Investing: Industry Insights – Gabelli Funds (Parts 7-9)
The “Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG): The Three Hottest Words in Investing” webinar continues with Chris Marangi, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, responding to participants questions. In this Q&A series, Marangi addresses regulation, negative and positive screening, and fund management. He then offers insights into energy-related environmental impacts, and corporate accountability. Please keep in mind that we may explore some of these topics more in depth later in the specialization.
WEEK 5
ESG Fundamental Analysis
You can generally consider environmental, social and governance issues as risks to a company’s financial performance, and a further means of conducting due diligence when making investment decisions, alongside other critical factors that may affect your returns, such as revenues, cash flows, creditworthiness, and operational performance. In this module, we will address the factors that underlie the “E”, “S” and “G” in ESG, as well as explore some relevant strategies for making investments in the green asset sphere.
WEEK 6
Reading Reinforcements
This Reading Reinforcement module is intended to arm you with information that has been pivotal to the inception of ESG investing, enabling you to conduct critical analyses about its origin and evolution. Following completion, among other objectives, you will be able to explain the meanings of different sustainability-related terms, as well as describe different findings concerning the relationship between ESG and financial performance.
