The Certification of Professional Achievement (CPA)

Course Details

The Certification of Professional Achievement (CPA) in Sustainable Finance prepares students to meet the growing demand for professionals who understand and can integrate the fundamentals of both corporate sustainability and financial analysis. Courses cover the special risks and opportunities revealed by the integration of environmental, social, and governance factors in capital markets, innovative financing methods to fund the transition to a global low-carbon economy, sustainable project and infrastructure finance, responsible and impact investing, green and carbon accounting, and environmental markets.

Students learn traditional financial and accounting tools supplemented with sustainability-specific methods and topics. The CPA equips graduates with the practical information and tools they need to understand the impact of environmental sustainability in corporate financial management and financial markets and enables them to prepare for and manage the consequences of both.

The CPA comprises courses that cover concepts at the intersection of sustainability and financial management, such as sustainability economics, investment, accounting, risk management, and communication. Students will gain a foundation in the core concepts of corporate finance and an understanding of the sustainability drivers in finance. Students will also learn to analyze the non-financial metrics of businesses.

Courses completed in the CPA can be credited towards the Master of Science (MS) in Sustainability Management if a student decides to transfer from the CPA to the MS program. It is important to note that each course can only be counted once towards either the CPA or MS. Alternatively, students may choose to pursue the CPA in Sustainable Finance as an independent, stand-alone program without transitioning to the MS program.