Columbia Business School

Overview

In three days, Carbon Finance and Management Strategies provides essential knowledge for strategic decision making around carbon management. The program is a deep dive into the topic of carbon finance, with sessions addressing relevant US and international policy developments, markets, and related legal implications.

Globally, carbon trading will be influenced by the outcome of international negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The aim of these global talks is to reach agreement by the end of this year on a global climate regime. Meanwhile Europe's emissions trading scheme (ETS) will enter its third phase in 2013. Similar programs are also emerging in Australia, Japan, and New Zealand with a view to linking into a truly global marketplace.

In the United States and Canada, there is federal legislation on the table that would create a carbon market and render energy companies subject to emissions caps. At the regional level, ten states in the northeast have been running a greenhouse gas emissions trading program since 2009, and two other such programs are being developed in the west and Midwest that are slated to start in 2012.

Carbon Finance and Management Strategies combines lectures, discussions, and case studies for practical learning. With guidance from Columbia Business School faculty and experts from Point Carbon, participants will review proposed US legislation, analyze carbon price formation, and identify and assess risk management and trading strategies.

For a complete program schedule download the agenda.

Please Contact Us

Please contact our Learning Solutions Specialists at 212-854-3395 for a personal conversation to learn more.

Audience

Carbon Finance and Management Strategiesis designed for upper- and senior-level senior executives, especially those from energy-intensive industries — such as power, manufacturing, transportation, and consultants and advisers to these industries — who want to prepare their organization for cap-and-trade legislation and craft the appropriate strategy, as well as anyone in the business or financial community interested in understanding this issue.

Benefits

Carbon Finance and Management Strategies provides a detailed look at carbon markets and implications for US companies. Throughout the three-day program, participants will:

• Understand the foundations and operations of carbon markets
• Study the principles governing investments in carbon offset projects
• Learn principles for identifying, managing, and mitigating carbon risks and opportunities
• Analyze interactions between carbon and energy prices
• Develop the optimal carbon strategy for your organization

Curriculum

Day 1: Science, Institutions and Regulatory Framework

Climate Change—Science and Impacts

• Examines how greenhouse gases change the climate and what are the consequences for human societies
• Discuss the state of scientific understanding of future climate and the consequences of warming

Climate Policy—International Framework and Institutional Dynamics

• Provides an overview of the international climate change framework, and aims to identify and explain the key policy processes and institutional dynamics at the international and domestic levels
• Explores scenarios for the future evolution of climate change policies at the international and domestic level

Theory and Practice of Cap and Trade

• Outlines the economic rationale for cap and trade and highlights previous experience with such systems in the United States and the European Union

US Climate Policy: History, Context and Forward

• Provides an overview of past congressional proposals, focus on current discussions around the role of the EPA
• Discuss the current state-of-play at the federal and state levels

Day 2: Financial Markets and Trading Strategies

Regional Market Design: Options, Variety and Scope

• Outlines the main options and parameters facing policymakers in the design of greenhouse gas emissions trading schemes
• Highlights the key features of existing, emerging, and proposed emissions regional trading schemes

Regional Markets in Operation

• Outline and discuss key factors shaping carbon price formation and market dynamics, using empirical evidence from the EU ETS and the northeastern US Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

The Role and Effectiveness of Carbon Offsets

• Provides analytical foundations for assessing risks associated with investing in carbon offsets by taking a detailed look at the project cycle and discussing key parameters that affect the performance of offset projects, using examples from the international and domestic offset space as case studies

International Offsets: The Clean Development Mechanism

• Provides an explanation of the use of international carbon offsets under the Clean Development Mechanism and case studies in the origination and distribution of these offsets

Day 3: Risk Management, Strategic Decision Making

Carbon Price Formation and Market Dynamics

• Outline and discuss key factors shaping carbon price formation and market dynamics, using empirical evidence from the EU ETS and the northeastern US Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
• Explores factors that will impact a federal US cap-and-trade system

Risk Identification, Assessment, and Mitigation

• Introduces participants to market-related risks including allowance price fluctuation and volatility, allowance supply uncertainties, offset availability, and project performance
• Covers risk mitigation strategies for entities and financial players

Carbon Accounting, Reporting and Disclosure

• Reviews the approaches to measuring and accounting for carbon emissions

For a complete program schedule download the agenda.