Impact Investing: ESG Investing Certification

An Evidence-Based Approach to ESG & Sustainable Investing

Impact Investing Reaches a Tipping Point

Sustainable and impact investing is attracting enough capital to start having a meaningful impact on the world’s most pressing problems. Globally, more than $22.8 trillion is invested sustainably, representing more than one dollar for every four dollars under professional management. The rapid pace of recent growth has been driven by a fundamental shift in how investors and asset owners view environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.

As the fastest-growing segment of sustainable investing, impact investing is a strategy that modern investors, financial advisors, and money managers need to be well versed in, especially as a new generation of investors clamour for it.

This six-week online program is designed and taught by Bhakti Mirchandani, who teaches an award-winning impact finance course for Columbia’s Masters in Sustainability Management program and has authored more than 90 articles on sustainable and impact investing.

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By participating in the program, you will:

Explore how mainstream financial instruments and financial markets work as the backdrop for devising a sustainable investing strategy

Understand the investment value chain, from asset owners and asset managers to organizations, using application exercises and case studies to illustrate these three vantage points

Discover how successful impact investors measure social and environmental impact and use it to guide investment decisions

Examine seven approaches to sustainable and impact investing:

Private equity in frontier markets

Environment, social, and governance (ESG) integration

Mission-related investments

Social impact bonds

Institutional investors and family office professionals

who need to upskill in this increasingly important investment segment, justify impact investing, and respond to stakeholder demand

Venture capitalists, angel investors, and high-net-worth individuals

who want to advance their mission of making a positive impact with their investment dollars, gaining the quantitative and qualitative skills required to make a measurable impact

Financial advisors and consultants

who want to provide intelligent impact investing solutions for modern investors, including millennials and Gen Zers, who are more motivated to invest in assets that align with their personal values

Prerequisites: Some knowledge of financial markets and instruments such as equities, bonds, and CDOs is required.

Program Modules

Module 1:

Introduction to Impact Investing:  Define impact investing, review foundational concepts related to the field of investing, and reflect on the early years of program-related investments and microfinance capital markets transactions.

Module 2:

Measuring Impact:  Define the first link in the investment asset chain — the asset owners — and examine three different frameworks for impact measurement.

Module 3:

Fixed Income Impact Investing:  Explore how materiality varies across the capital structure, delve into sustainability for a range of fixed income strategies, and integrate ESG into fixed income pricing.

Module 4 :

Public Equity Impact Investing: Designed to democratize impact investing, public equities broaden access to sustainable investing opportunities beyond institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals.

Module 5 :

Private Equity Impact Investing: Examine private equity fund economics and life cycles, the United States government’s use of private equity for economic statecraft, and how to drive diversity, equity, and inclusion in investment portfolios.

Module 6:

Innovative Finance for Impact Investing:  Explore innovative concepts that include microfinance securitization, social impact bonds, recidivism, and sustainability-linked loans and bonds. The module concludes with participants presenting a final project on social engagement.

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