Environmental, Social and Governance Inv

ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investment addresses sustainability and ethical impact of investments. In this course, we cover the real reasons to introduce ESG investment and the emerging practices of ESG investment at private financial institutions and MDBs as navigators. Since the practice is still at the nascent stage, we will first learn from cases studies. We will identify the real reasons why each private financial institution started to apply ESG investment such as increasing their clients/customers satisfaction to maintain current fee system or recruiting smart millenniums, the relationship between the application of ESG investment and its impact on financial returns, how they are applying it including analytical frameworks and their challenges. We will also discuss where the practices of ESG investment at private financial institutions is heading. Additionally, we will understand the roles of MDBs has been playing such as 1) clarifying strategy of each country and navigate private investors to right areas, 2) standardization of ESG including defining green bonds, E&S performance standards including monitoring and 3) offering some blended finance and discuss what are working and where they face challenges.