NEW YORK — According to the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment’s 2020 trends report, one-third of assets under management in the United States — $17.1 trillion — represent sustainably invested funds among both institutional and retail investors. Columbia Business School’s Executive Education department, in collaboration with Emeritus, is launching a new seven-week online program called ESG Investing, designed to give financial and investment professionals the tools to critically evaluate ESG investment. The program, which begins on December 16, 2021, offers a mix of live and recorded sessions, insights from featured guests, including Aniket Shah, the managing director and global head of ESG and sustainability research at Jeffries Group LLC, and covers key topics, including:

• What are the various asset classes available for sustainable investing and how are they evolving? 
• What are the key regulatory efforts in ESG investing in the United States, Europe, and China? 
• How does a portfolio manager actually incorporate ESG factors into investment analysis? 
• How are investors thinking about climate change risk? 
• Will there be an ESG investment category five years from now? 

The program’s faculty director, Shivaram Rajgopal, is the Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing at Columbia Business School. A leading expert on measuring how well managers serve as responsible stewards of the corporation’s resources, Professor Rajgopal has conducted research on measurement and disclosure of ESG issues, whether companies deliver on their stated corporate purpose and on carbon accounting and disclosure. In addition to his pioneering research on short-termism, Rajgopal’s extensive body of work covers a wide range of contemporary issues in financial reporting, fiscal responsibility, and corporate governance.
[Related: See highlights of his study, Do the Socially Responsible Walk the Talk?]

“The ESG Investing Program will address many of the assumptions and misconceptions in the market around ESG investing,” says Shiva Rajgopal. This program covers both conceptual and practical questions relating to stakeholder capitalism, making sense of the confusing ESG ratings, measuring the stakeholder orientation of a company, burning issues with climate finance, net zero pledges, sustainability bonds, and the likely future of the area. The program is supplemented by leading practitioners’ recommendations on the history and future of the ESG revolution.

“Bringing high-quality, affordable education to the world is Emeritus’ mission, and by collaborating with Columbia Business School Executive Education on the Sustainable Investing Program, we are able to multiply our forces for good in a meaningful way,” says Lisa Rohrer, head of university partnerships at Emeritus. “Participants from over 80 countries have taken our programs to date, and we’re eager to encourage more sustainable mindsets across all industries.”

The ESG Investing program (online) starts on December 16, 2021 and costs $2,600, with flexible payment options and discounts available for multiple enrollments. Learn more about the program here.

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About Emeritus

Emeritus are committed to teaching the skills of the future by making high-quality education accessible and affordable to individuals, companies, and governments around the world. They do this by collaborating with more than 50 top-tier universities across the United States, Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, India, and China. Emeritus’ short programs, degree programs, professional certificates, and senior executive programs help individuals learn new skills and transform their lives and organizations. Their unique model of state-of-the-art technology, curriculum innovation, and hands-on instruction from senior faculty, mentors, and coaches has educated more than 250,000 individuals across 80+ countries. Founded in 2015, Emeritus, a part of Eruditus Group, have more than 1,400 employees globally and offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Shanghai, Singapore, Palo Alto, Mexico City, New York, Boston, London, and Dubai. Following their $650 million Series E funding round in August 2021, the organization is valued at $3.2 billion and is backed by Accel, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Leeds Illuminate, Prosus Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, and Bertelsmann.