ESG Fundamentals

ESG Fundamentals Course Overview

Whether you’re in investment banking, commercial banking, private industry, or investment management, you will no doubt be faced with growing interest in ESG.   It is crucial to have an understanding of, perspective around, and ability to work with ESG issues to inform financial decision-making.

The intention of this course is to help you develop the critical thinking skills required to work with ESG issues in a variety of ways and in a variety of scenarios.

In this course, we will refresh ourselves on the key concepts from CFI’s Introduction to ESG course, then take a deep dive into systems thinking and the importance of context in ESG.  We will work through the mechanics of a materiality assessment and discuss the material risks and opportunities to both internal & external stakeholders.

Finally, we will evaluate the quality of corporate ESG action in a variety of ways and work through an exercise in building our own ESG scorecard using a set of example client directives.

Introduction to ESG Learning Objectives

Upon completing this course, you will be able to:

• Explain key ESG concepts and the considerations for companies & investors.
• Leverage systems thinking to assess materiality across companies and industries.
• Determine risks & opportunities for both internal and external stakeholders.
• Evaluate ESG maturity, the quality of disclosures, and actual performance.
• Learn to build an ESG scorecard using an example company and set of client directives.

Who Should Take This Course?

This ESG Fundamentals course is perfect for any analyst who would like to better understand how a company manages risks and opportunities that shifting market & non-market conditions create in today’s world. 

This course works through a materiality assessment and discusses the material risks & opportunities with respect to key stakeholders, which would be useful for beginner and intermediate level research analysts, banking and investment professionals, or business and finance students seeking to gain further insight into ESG.

The exercises and tools explored in this course will also be useful for any business analyst that wishes to advise both private and public market clients on ESG strategies and improved disclosures.