CPD Courses

Overview

About This Certificate

Sustainability is one of the burning issues of our times and is an issue that is relevant to us all, regardless of where we live or how we earn our living. As organisations are rebuilding from the pandemic, there is a growing desire for a transformative and sustainable global recovery, which is providing a fresh focus for organisations to drive forward their position in relation to sustainability.​

Accountants and finance professionals have an important part to play in helping organisations adapt to the sustainable practices required to prevent resource depletion, facilitate long-term success and build a more sustainable future. The Certificate in Sustainability for Finance will allow finance teams to gain the skills and knowledge to enable them to confidently lead on sustainability issues in their organisations.

Learning Outcomes

By completing this certificate, you will be able to:

• Explain why sustainability is important to society, organisations and finance professionals
• Evaluate business value chains, business models and business practices for sustainability and related issues
• Define climate change risks and the associated financial implications, and understand the reporting frameworks for climate risk disclosures
• Explain the UN SDGs, their significance for organisations in terms of risks and opportunities, and the definitions of impact
• Explain why ESG issues are important for your organisation and evaluate processes and systems for collecting, analysing and reporting ESG information
• Explain why sustainability analytics is important for your organisation, and evaluate the approach for compiling, analysing and interpreting ESG data

Key Information

• The certificate comprises approximately 20 hours of self-paced interactive learning.
• It is made up of five courses: 
  • An introduction to sustainability for finance professionals
  • Climate risk and reporting for finance professionals
  • Sustainable Development Goals and their impact for finance professionals
  • ESG performance and metrics for finance professionals
  • Sustainability analytics for finance professionals
• Students complete all five courses and pass the assessment to gain a certificate and digital badge to show their knowledge.
• The assessment comprises 25 questions and has a 50% pass mark. Three attempts are allowed.

Additional Information

This certificate is open for global registration. However, learners in Hong Kong should be aware, this programme is eligible under the Pilot Green and Sustainable Finance Capacity Building Support Scheme (programme code: GTP-372230). Note that only the full certificate is eligible, not ‘An introduction to sustainability for finance professionals’, which is available for individual purchase.

Who Is It For?

This certificate is for finance professionals and accountants who want to upskill themselves in how to implement sustainability in their organisation and optimise the value generated by the finance function.

There are no formal educational requirements to begin the certificate.

If you already have professional accountancy qualifications, this certificate can be a valuable source of CPD. It also provides an opportunity to top up existing competencies with specific knowledge and skills around sustainability.

If you don’t currently hold any professional accountancy qualifications, you can benefit from the opportunity to gain formal recognition of your capabilities.

Course Details

An Introduction to Sustainability for Finance Professionals

This course aims to equip you with the knowledge and understanding you need to help your organisation measure, analyse and report on sustainability and ESG-related matters. These skills will help you provide greater stakeholder insights to support business and investment decisions as well as regulatory disclosures.

On completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Define sustainability and sustainable development
• Explain why sustainability is important to society, organisations and finance professionals
• Understand the global challenges of sustainable development and how business organisations can help meet these challenges 
• Evaluate business value chains, business models and business practices for sustainability and related issues
• Understand sustainability reporting frameworks
• Understand how the Science Based Targets initiative, and Big Data, contribute to sustainability
• Understand responsible investment principles

Climate Risk and Reporting for Finance Professionals

This course explores external forces of change relating to climate change that finance professionals will have to address in order to build organisational resilience, cause less damage to the planet and help people live well. This includes regulatory pressures as well as stakeholder pressure.

On completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Explain climate change risks, including physical risk, transition risk and the financial implications associated with these risks
• Explain the stakeholder pressures for change in terms of reporting and climate-related disclosures
• Describe the main reporting frameworks for climate risk disclosures
• Understand how organisations can improve their reporting and climate change analysis processes

Sustainable Development Goals and Their Impact for Finance Professionals

This course aims to equip you with an understanding of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the value creation opportunities for organisations in the private sector from aligning with the SDGs. This will enable you to support your organisation or clients in developing SDG impact-aligned business models and establish systems to report on the progress of achievement of impact outcomes.

On completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Explain the development of the UN SDGs, their significance for organisations in terms of risks and opportunities, and discuss definitions of ‘impact’
• Identify guidelines for aligning business models with SDGs and examples of impact business models and products
• Understand the various frameworks available for impact reporting and accounting
• Explain the UN SDGs, their significance for organisations in terms of risks and opportunities, and the definitions of impact
• Explain why ESG issues are important for your organisation, and evaluate processes and systems for collecting, analysing and reporting ESG information
• Explain why sustainability analytics is important for your organisation, and evaluate the approach for compiling, analysing and interpreting ESG data

ESG Performance and Metrics for Finance Professionals

This course will provide you with an understanding of the importance of measuring and managing performance related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. It will enable you to apply accounting techniques to the collection and disclosure of ESG data and information.

On completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Explain why ESG issues are important and relevant
• Identify core ESG issues and metrics for your organisation 
• Evaluate processes and systems for collecting, analysing and reporting ESG information

Sustainability Analytics for Finance Professionals

This course will provide you with an understanding and overview of ESG data types, sources, tools and techniques to support sustainability analysis and its importance. It will explore how you can become more effective finance business partners, enabling you to provide valuable insight to support decision-making by linking sustainability to financial reporting and business strategies.

On completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Explain why sustainability analytics is important and relevant
• Identify core ESG data, sources, tools and techniques to perform sustainability analytics for your organisation
• Understand the evaluation approach for compiling, analysing and interpreting ESG data
• Apply relevant ESG metrics, targets, KPIs, benchmarking, monitoring and reporting measures