Climate change presents a risk to the global economy and consequently the finance sector. However, it also presents an opportunity for innovative financing to increase the economic and social resilience to climate impacts.
As facilitators of the economy, financial institutions have a central role in the transformation to low carbon and climate-resilient development. Their responsibility is twofold: greening their portfolios towards Paris compatible financing and investments, and reflecting and integrating climate-related risks into their risk management processes. This gradual process involves harmonising short-term business cycles and investment horizons with systemic and long-term thinking by all actors from the financial sector (e.g. banks, asset managers, insurers, pension funds, investment consultants, regulators, rating agencies). This process is supported by public actors who moderate the structural change required for a transition to climate-resilient economies.
This course provides the basics of finance and investment for assessing the financial viability of investments in adaptation projects. It clusters business models to provide an understanding of the parameters according to the project scale and, for example, revenue models, ownership structure, and value proposition, and will link to the financing perspective. Different investors and intermediaries have very different investment strategies, level of risk appetite, return expectations, and investment horizons. Crowding in the right investor for a project is essential to ensure their long-term involvement and the required scale-up of investment volumes.
Course objectives:
Adaptation seeks to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. Most of the research on adaptation to date has focused on public spending on adaptation rather than private adaptation, although it may be likely that most of the adaptation financing needs appear with the private actors affected by climate change. Understanding this will help to moderate and potentially accelerate adaptation, as well as address the role of government incentives for adaptation projects. This course will demonstrate that adaptation can appear with different economic and financial characteristics depending on the level we look at it and the individual activity that is considered. Depending on these different characteristics there are different roles for private and commercial actors or governmental institutions in facilitating the structural change towards a low carbon and climate-resilient economy.
Starting in
Starting in
Always verify the dates on the programme website.
This course starts twice a year, in March and in September
The course takes 6 months assuming 5-6 hours of self-study per week.
Courses include:
Climate change science - What is adaptation?
Climate science meets climate finance
Coping with damages - the natural role of private and public sector actors
Basics of finance and investment with a business model perspective on climate-resilent projects
Barriers to adaptation finance and the role of support frameworks
Building a business case for adaptation
Investment opportunities from the perspective of private financiers
Financing the business model - financial instruments
This course is suitable for both public and private sector practitioners, including entrepreneurs, project developers, private investors, initiator/fund houses, international development finance consultants and managers, plant operators and manufacturers, engineers and advisory professionals. The course aims to explain the many facets of, and perspectives on, climate adaptation finance.
This programme may require students to demonstrate proficiency in English.
Check the programme website for information about funding options.
Studyportals Tip: Students can search online for independent or external scholarships that can help fund their studies. Check the scholarships to see whether you are eligible to apply. Many scholarships are either merit-based or needs-based.
