ESG Investing (Online): Building and Managing a Sustainable Global PortfolioNEW
ESG Investing (Online): Building and Managing a Sustainable Global Portfolio
What started as a corporate social responsibility initiative by the United Nations 20 years ago has swelled into the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) movement. Many financial institutions and organizations have launched sustainability initiatives related to its governance, but there are critical questions to ask as we evaluate ESG investments, such as:
- What are the key differences between public equity and public debt investing and between public and private markets?
- What are the key regulatory efforts in ESG investing in the United States, Europe, and China?
- How does a portfolio manager incorporate ESG factors into investment analysis?
- How are investors thinking about climate change risk, and is there a useful framework that helps simplify this topic for capital allocators?
Please contact our partners at Emeritus at columbia@emeritus.org, +1 315-982-5094, or +1 315-277-2746 for a personal conversation about this program and how it may benefit you.
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Impact
After taking this program, you will be able to:
- Examine the origins of the stakeholder movement, which forms the basis for ESG investing
- Utilize ESG reporting frameworks appropriate for your industry
- Analyze ESG ratings and supplementary data to ensure sound investment decisions
- Explain how organizations are responding to climate risk
- Use ESG data to inform stock picks and portfolio allocation decisions
- Describe the future of ESG investing and how it will evolve
Program Structure
This program covers finance and sustainability as integrated subjects, beginning with an introduction to financial and investment principles and ending with financial analysis, financing, and valuation.
Participant Profile
While there are no specific prerequisites in terms of content knowledge, this program is designed for those who have experience in corporate finance, investment management, or banking.
The program is ideal for:
- Senior executives who seek to understand the current sustainable investing landscape and incorporate sustainability factors into their organizations' financial and investment decisions
- Mid-Career managers and analysts who serve in finance or investment functions and play a key role in their organizations' financial matters
Faculty

Shiva Rajgopal
Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing

Shiva Rajgopal
Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing
Shiva Rajgopal is the Kester and Byrnes Professor at Columbia Business School. A highly regarded academic, Shiva is one of the world’s leading experts on measuring how well managers serve as responsible stewards of the corporation’s resources. He is perhaps best known for his finding that around 40 percent of Chief Financial Officers would sacrifice a positive net present value project to meet quarterly analyst consensus earnings estimate. Apart from conducting pioneering research on short-termism, Shiva's extensive body of academic and practitioner focused work covers a wide range of contemporary issues in financial reporting and governance such as accounting restatements, frauds, SEC enforcement actions, efficacy of board and executive compensation schemes in delivering shareholder value, whistle blowing, and the paramount importance of corporate culture as an under-appreciated economic asset of the firm. He has wide-ranging experience in solving applied business problems with global private equity funds, leading insurance companies, financial services firms, hedge funds, and cyber security ratings agencies. His work has been featured extensively in the Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Barrons, Bloomberg, Fortune, Forbes and The Economist.
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