Executive and Workshop Programs

The need for current employees to understand and focus part of their role on ESG can help them in their own careers. Gaining and adapting ESG as a percentage of their current roles will help with future career growth as employees in all categories will increasingly be valued as they desire to get involved with the ever more relevant sustainability sphere. For example, some firms have senior ‘ESG Committees’ where people are not part of a set ESG team, but have a percentage of their role dedicated to ESG issues.

Whatever roles may exist within an organization, there is potential to have an ESG component included. Professionals who didn’t start out within the ESG space have now become leaders in this area, for example:

• R&D professionals have developed environmental-friendly products, then moved on to lead M&A projects aligned with the company’s new sustainability transition,
• Risk professionals have been able to expand their focus on risk to also include sustainable investing, and support the wider ESG team, 
• Law firms increasingly are winning business on ESG matters,
• Accountants increasingly need to understand sustainability strategy and data that they will increasingly be required to report on,
• Marketing professionals with an interest in ESG have moved onto marketing sustainable products.

Yet, few institutions worldwide offer curriculum, training, and certification that focus on sustainable finance or the connection between ESG and investing. Companies have yet to do the same when looking at their own employees using a systematic approach. As companies and institutions grapple with challenges from the coronavirus to climate change and inequality, finding future leaders capable of reorienting business lines or investment portfolios, as well as communicating and understanding their own organization’s efforts is going to be increasingly critical to business success.

Besides the various executive and workshop programs that we are offering through partnering institutions such as Yale School of Management, NYU Stern Business School, Columbia University and Hanken School of Economics, SFI is also directly offering customized executive training programs and workshops to corporations, governments, NGOs and financial institutions (banks, insurance co.'s, funds, etc.). We also offer workshops for startups and highly motivated individuals.

Please contact: execworkshop@sfini.org for details.