Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions for the Investment and Financial Sector

Course Description

This fully online course is designed for finance and investment sector C-suite executives and senior leaders. It provides an overview of climate change science, with a particular focus on the roles that human behavior and the greenhouse effect play in global warming. It also discusses the risks that companies and investors face due to climate change as well as the opportunities emerging for the private sector to drive mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Learning Outcomes

• Describe the greenhouse effect and explain how it contributes to global warming
• Explain how climate and weather extremes are being felt worldwide
• Explain how integrated assessment models measure damages caused by climate change
• Discuss the social cost of carbon and marginal damages from additional carbon emissions
• Identify the risks that companies and investors face with climate change
• Compare policies and economic strategies that can mitigate climate change
• Identify the business risks and opportunities related to climate change
• Explain the role of the finance sector in driving climate strategies
• Explain how a bottom-up view of international climate policy generates opportunities for firms, NGOs, and state-owned enterprises to drive mitigation and adaptation strategies

Course Format and Content

This is a 2-hour online, self-paced course.  It has two lectures with multiple episodes within each lecture.

Lecture 1: Fundamental Science, Impacts and Economics (50 mins)

• Episode 1: Climate Change Basics
• Episode 2: Physical Impacts of Climate Change
• Episode 3: Economics of Climate Change

 Lecture 2: Responses from Government, Society and Technology (1 hr, 10 mins)

• Episode 1: The Economics of Decarbonization
• Episode 2: Marketplace Potential for Driving Sustainability Choices
• Episode 3: Technology Responses and Rates of Change
• Episode 4: Implications for International Governance

Speakers

• Magali Delmas - Professor of Management, Anderson School of Management, Institute of the Environment & Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles
• Robert Engle - Michael Armellino Professor of Finance Emeritus and Co-Director of the Volatility and Risk Institute, Stern School of Business, New York University; Professor Emeritus of University of California, San Diego
• Ram Ramanathan - Distinguished Research Professor, Edward Friedman Presidential Chair, Professor Emeritus, Climate Sustainability, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego
• David Victor - Professor of Innovation and Public Policy, School of Global Policy and Strategy, UC San Diego; Co-director, Deep Decarbonization Initiative

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