FIN30530 Sustainable Finance

Academic Year 2022/2023

“There can be no Plan B, because there is no planet B”, Former United Nations General Secretary, Ban Ki-Moon.
Environmental risk, climate change, and societal concerns have been at the centre of public debate for some time and there is growing evidence to suggest such concerns are increasingly important to the decision-making process. The United Nations developed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN, 2015) to guide the transition towards a sustainable and inclusive society that incorporates environmental and societal challenges. They established 17 Sustainable Development Goals that are of critical importance in facilitating this transition. While achieving these goals and successfully transitioning to a net zero carbon society requires a transdisciplinary approach, finance plays a central role. The primary function of the financial system is to channel funds to their most productive uses to maximise growth. Hence, finance can play a leading role in accelerating the transition to a decarbonized and more circular system by allocating investment to sustainable corporations and investment opportunities. Sustainable finance examines how finance interacts with economic, environmental, and societal issues. The traditional approach to finance focuses on maximising shareholder wealth, whereas here we will focus on financing that incorporates the interests of multiple stakeholders (both internal and external). In this module we will examine sustainability and why it matters, the challenges and opportunities for corporations including corporate governance and behaviour, internalizing externalities, changing business models, and sustainable reporting; and how to finance sustainability including sustainable equity investment, sustainable debt (green bonds, blue bonds, social bonds), and investing for long-term value creation.
Please note that this module is designed to be interactive, so student participation is essential.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

Upon completion of this module students should have a comprehensive understanding of:
1. Financing from a multiple stakeholder perspective.
2. How to internalize externalities with respect to environmental and social factors
3. The concept of long-term value creation
4. Integrated reporting
5. How to channel funds to sustainable corporations/projects
6. Greenwashing
7. Green/blue/social bonds
8. Academic research in sustainable finance contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

Indicative Module Content:

What is sustainability and why does it matter?
 Sustainable Development Goals
 Economic Goals
 Environmental Goals
 Societal Goals
 From shareholder to stakeholder perspective
 The role of the financial system
Corporate Sustainability
 Internalization of externalities
 Scenario Analysis
 Corporate Governance
 Circular Business Models
 Sustainable Reporting
Financing Sustainability
 Equity
 Bonds
 Long-term value creation
Current research in sustainable finance

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

24

Autonomous Student Learning

96

Total

120

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This is an interactive module and active student participation is required. The module will consist of lectures, class discussion, guest lectures, individual work and group work. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Requirements:

FIN20010 - Principles of Finance, or ECON20190 - Introduction to Financial Econ, or FIN10670 - Introduction to Finance, or FIN20040 - Foundations of Finance, or equivalent


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Assignment: Individual assignment which will be given in week one and due in week 10. Week 10 n/a Graded No

60

Group Project: Group project and presentation. Groups for this module will be assigned. Students must be available for in-class presentation of group projects in weeks 11 and 12 of the trimester. Coursework (End of Trimester) n/a Graded No

35

Attendance: Class attendance and participation Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

5


Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Students may submit a draft of their individual assignment by week 7 if they wish to receive feedback. Feedbacak on group assignments will be given post-assessment General overall class feedback will be given post-assessment