In this course, you will learn to identify material sustainability risks associated with particular business activities and analyse examples of these risks in order to yield actionable insights to mitigate these risks. To do this, you will examine ways that corporations disclose, report, and manage such risks based on best practice sustainability disclosure regulations and articulate several strategic corporate sustainability initiatives focused on a company and its key stakeholders, by supporting your company’s compliance with international, regional, and domestic regulations and guidelines relating to sustainability risks. By the end of this course, you will be better prepared to identify regulatory and reputational sustainability risks and develop strategies to mitigate these risks.

• Account and relationship managers in Wholesale and SME Banking.
• Staff from the audit, risk management, sustainability, and compliance departments.

• Understand materiality in sustainable financing.
• Identify the material sustainability risks and articulate key sustainability risks and how they could impact the organisation, its customers, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Assess the material sustainability risks by collecting, collating, and interpreting data to support assessment of sustainability risks, potentially via engagement.
• Support the organisation’s compliance with international, regional, and domestic regulations and guidelines relating to sustainability risks.

Background & Overview of the Sustainable Finance Landscape & Its Key Drivers

• Background: UN SDGs & The Paris Agreement
• Sustainable Finance and Sustainability
• Definition of Sustainable Finance
• Sustainable Finance from an ESG Lens
• Definition of Sustainability and Sustainability Risks

Sustainability Risk and Transmission Channel

• Key Drivers and Sources of Sustainability Risks and Opportunities incl. Internal & External Factors
• Main Transmission Channels of Sustainability (or ESG) Risks
• Illustrative Comments on Sustainability Risk Transmission Channels
• Treatment of Sustainability Risk from a Stakeholder Perspective
• Sustainability Risk Identification & Transmission Channel
• How Sustainability Factors Translate into Risks & Propagate through a Wide Range of Transmission Channels

Materiality and Regulations (& Guidelines) Relating to Sustainability Risks

• Definition of Materiality in Sustainable Finance
• Materiality in the Context of Sustainability
• Global Regulatory and Reporting Perspectives on Materiality & Sustainability Risks incl. UNGC, Equator Principles and the MAS Environmental Risk Management Guidelines
• Double Materiality
• Risk Transmission: Outside-In & Inside-Out
• Dynamic Materiality
• Examples of Sustainability/ESG Material Factors

Identifying & Assessing Material Sustainability Risks from an ESG Lens

• Sustainability Risks in the Context of ESG
• Sustainability Risk Coverage and Types
• Climate Change and Sustainability Issues
• Social Issues and Sustainability Risks
• Sustainability Risks through Materiality
• Materiality Assessment of Sustainability Factors
• Prioritizing Key Sustainability Issues using a Materiality Matrix
• Key Steps in the Materiality Assessment Process
• Benefits of a Material Sustainability Risk Assessment

Key Sustainability Risk Modelling Concepts & Approaches

• Best Practice Sustainability Risk Modelling Concepts & Approaches
• Selection and Use of Data, Metrics or Other Indicators for Assessing Sustainability Risks
• Example: Impact Metrics and Milestone KPIs aligned to GRI or UNGC Guidelines
• Concluding Remarks