ONLINE TRAINING PROGRAM WITH CERTIFICATE

DATE: 19TH -20TH JULY

ABOUT THE COURSE

This masterclass is co-hosted with Brecil Consultants Ltd, a company managed by Licensed Banking Practitioners and Fellows of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, and CENGSSUD Sustainability Academy. The course provides participants with the understanding and reveals the linkages on how sustainability/ESG (economic, environmental, social & governance) issues have become financially material to financial performance and the capital markets.

Through a combination of lecture, discussion and group exercises, participants will learn about financially material Environmental Social Governance (ESG) indicators and data providers, and learn how to translate corporate performance on sustainability into financial performance. Participants will understand how ESG issues affect investment decisions made by institutional investors, corporate lenders, insurance companies, asset management funds, venture capitalists and retail investors, as well as business decisions made by corporate managers. Risk management aspects of sustainable finance will be addressed, especially in regards to emerging finance areas such as carbon finance, green bond, impact investing, sustainable infrastructural investment, sustainable development. Reporting requirements for sustainability risks and opportunities, and the prospect of the issuance of “Integrated Corporate Reports” that combine financial and sustainability reporting or stand-alone non-financial reporting will be discussed. The ethics of sustainability issues and their impact on management & finance will also be addressed.

We identified the urgent and imperative need to educate operators in the financial services industry in Nigeria on why Sustainable Finance is most critical for the well-being of their various institutions and the country in General.

Experts in this new field of knowledge have been assembled to do justice to every segment of the topic with subject materials painstakingly reviewed by tested and trusted professionals sponsoring the program.

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of the program, participants will be prepared to:

• Evaluate corporate sustainability risks and opportunities from a financial perspective, and understand how to manage/mitigate those risks
• Articulate why standard financial reporting does not adequately account for how corporate sustainability performance can enhance both shareholder and stakeholder value
• Explain the significance of ESG screening criteria
• Employ alternative methods of calculating, interpreting, and reporting non-financial indicators
• Analyze the monetary value of sustainable investing
• Examine the potential and pitfalls of the standard measures of growth, risk, and return
• Understand how policy structure, policy changes, and the prospect of policy changes impact decisions in the investment sector
• Explain the implications of ESG criteria upon the due diligence process
• Discover practical tools to implement sustainable investing and lending in organisations

Who should attend?

• All financial service professionals in investment, insurance, banking, asset management, risk management

• Financial services advisors; capital markets specialists, account managers, and investment consultants who want to better understand corporate sustainability and finance.

Course Modules

Module 1: Introduction to sustainable finance and Global megatrends

• What is sustainable finance?
• What is driving sustainable finance?
• What are the global megatrends shaping the future?
• How do these megatrends affect the financial sector?

Module 2: Emerging risks for the financial sector

• How do ESG risks affect companies and their financial
  performance?
• Rewiring risk and return
• Strategies that work for sustainable finance

Module 3: Sustainable investment, Products and Strategies

• Responsible Investing Strategies
• Portfolio alignment and strategies from an investor’s perspective
• Impact investing, Project Finance & Private Equity
• Green Bonds
• Sustainable Infrastructure Investments
• Carbon finance
• Sustainable Real Estate

Module 4: Overview of regulatory and voluntary standards, framework and principles for Finance/Sustainable Investments

• IFC Performance Standards
• United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI)
• Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles
• Stock exchange regulations (Nigeria Sustainability Disclosure Guidelines)
• UNEPFI
• Equator Principles 3
• Global sustainability indexes and initiatives (GRI, UNGC, SDGs etc)

Module 5: Embarking on your sustainable finance journey: Implementation towards Transforming risks into opportunities

• Integrating ESG considerations into your operations
• ESG Due Diligence, Compliance and Performance Monitoring
• Integrating Sustainable investment policies
• How can financial institutions manage ESG risks?
• Reducing credit risk and enhancing returns

MODULE 6: SUSTAINABILITY/ESG Reporting and rating AND INTEGRATED REPORTING

• Sustainability Information needs of investors
• Value of non-financial reporting and the non-financial reporting landscape
• ESG metrics – sustainability disclosures, reports and ratings
• The application of the GRI Standards
• Materiality
• Integrated Reporting (IR)
• Assurance and communication

Testing Understanding

• Best practices on reporting communication
• External Assurance
• Testing Understanding