MSc in Climate Change & Sustainable Finance

The MSc in Climate Change & Sustainable Finance is a double degree programme conducted in cooperation with Mines Paris - PSL. It will equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to ensure that the financial industry can provide long-term support to meet environmental needs.

TOP 10
Masters in Finance Worldwide

Financial Times Ranking 2023

7th
European Business School

Financial Times 2023

1st
Career Services & Alumni Network in France

Master in Management ranking - Financial Times 2023

Language
English
Campus
Nice and Sophia-Antipolis
Duration
September–May: on-campus academic courses* /June onwards: work experience
Accreditations
AACSB, CEFDG, EQUIS
Credit value
120 ects

Start date

Early September 2024

 

Application deadline

June 7, 2024

AN MSC IN SUSTAINABLE FINANCE FOR A NEW GENERATION OF FINANCIAL EXPERTS

 

The MSc in Climate Change & Sustainable Finance is a double degree programme that combines financial expertise with a sound understanding of the scientific and engineering challenges associated with the transition to a low-carbon economy. The energy transition will require the development of a wide range of new financial instruments and innovations, with profound implications for markets, companies, intermediaries and investors. Our programme, in cooperation with Mines Paris - PSL and taught entirely in English, will prepare the next generation of financial professionals for this massive shift, giving them the right skillset to ensure that the financial industry can provide long-term support to meet environmental needs. You will be awarded an MSc in Climate Change & Sustainable Finance from EDHEC and a specialised diploma in Finance and Climate Change from Mines Paris - PSL. 

 

 

In partnership with:

 

ACADEMIC PARTNER

The MSc Climate Change & Sustainable Finance is the first academic partner of the GARP Sustainable and Climate Risk Professional Certification.
Developed with the guidance of senior risk practitioners, climate experts and sustainability professionals, the SCR certificate offers a comprehensive curriculum covering the science of climate change, climate policy and regulation, sustainability, and net zero, climate driven financial risks, reporting frameworks, and scenario analysis. Students who earn the SCR GARP certificate validate that they possess the knowledge and skills necessary to support corporate sustainability initiatives and anticipate climate threats within their organisations. 

The MSc Climate Change & Sustainable Finance opens up many career opportunities in all sectors. Environmental and social issues are global and all businesses and organisations have a role to play in building a better future.

 

PROGRAMME SPONSORS

EDHEC's programme sponsors are involved in the class on several levels. Students get the opportunity to work on concrete business case studies linked to sponsors’ potential opportunities or challenges, are in direct contact with business representatives and may get priority access to job offers.

*Depending on your background, you may be required to take some remote and self-paced courses in July-August prior to arriving on campus.

Programme insights

[Ringtone] Jan Hendrik Heihoff. MSc in Climate Change & Sustainable Finance

 

My name is Jan Hendrick. I'm studying the MSc in Climate Change & Sustainable Finance at EDHEC Business School.
I grew up in a small town in the west of Germany it's close to Dusseldorf called Sankt Tönis. It's actually an apple town, because there are so many apple orchards around. I played in the local football club and enjoyed living there with my family and my three siblings.

 

I did my bachelor's degree in Munich at the Technical University and focused on Management and Technology because I was really interested in startups and entrepreneurship. And the university Munich has a very strong focus on that. After I finished my bachelor's degree, I took a gap year and thought about what I want to do in my master's, and most importantly, ask myself the question of what do I want to spend my time on in the long term. I thought "what's the world going to look like in 10 years from now?".  "What are the important questions we're facing?", and I wanted to have a purposeful career that has meaning. And so climate change is to me, the biggest challenge we're facing at the moment, and it will stay with us for decades. So it's just what I want to focus on in my Master's degree and later on, in my professional career. So knowing what I wanted to do, I screened all master's programmes in Europe that have a focus on climate change and finance, and there aren't so many. It's only a handful of programmes. And what I really liked about EDHEC programme, is being a double degree with MINES ParisTech, which is an engineering school from Paris. I really like that combination of engineering and finance, because it was similar to my bachelor's degree, which had a combination of management and computer science.

 

So far, the programme is really interesting. One of the highlights for me, are the guest lecturers that we have, that are experts in climate science, finance or engineering. One of the guest lecturers was a glaciologist named Jean-Robert Petit. He drilled Ice cores in the Antarctic, and told us about atmospheric CO2 concentrations and how they developed over time going back thousands and hundred thousands of years. It was very interesting to see the variations in temperature but most importantly gave perspective, and showed just how incredibly quickly we increased our co2 concentration in the past 70 years. So it really showed the magnitude of the problem we're facing. Another guest lecturer that was really interesting to work with, was Stefano Batistan from the University of Zurich. He is the lead author on the IPCC reports for the intergovernmental panel on climate change. They published an assessment report of the current science around climate change every few years. And he's working on the chapter on finance and investments, which was very interesting. We talked about risk adjustments in finance. Overall, the master in climate change and sustainable finance, covered just what I wanted to learn in the programme and completely met my expectations.

 

So, on the one hand, we learned about engineering challenges and the energy transition and on the other hand, we learned about how climate change is being integrated in capital markets. For example, we covered the European taxonomy and how to estimate the share of green stocks in your portfolio. And we covered climate aware investing, in which you look at how you can transform equity portfolios to be less carbon intensive. So I'm really happy with choosing EDHEC for my masters' and I'm excited for starting my job afterwards, which will be as a sustainability focused investor, where I'll be in the venture team to get to net zero emissions. We need to fund and scale innovations very quickly, and it feels like a very meaningful contribution, to be able to work on that. I'm looking forward to the next few years to come.

[Music] I just graduated from the MSc in
Climate Change & Sustainable Finance at EDHEC in collaboration with MINES Paris PSL and I currently work at the World Bank as a consultant in the transport unit and I'm based in Ivory Coast, in Abidjan.

I choose to work at the World Bank because it is a Development Bank. 
I think that it's really interesting to work with the government because they are the ones that can make shifts and drive changes. So the job on an everyday basis is quite diverse. I have learned about the operation side where I follow the projects that the World Bank is financing in the West African region. So especially in the Ivory Coast and in Cameroon's extreme north side.
It consists of some socio-economic analysis and climate change analysis too to understand their priorities. The courses I had in the MSc are in line with my work today, for instance, we worked on a master's thesis with my colleagues, on the floods in Europe and every one of my mission here is to work on developing a tool for the government to analyse how floods impact their infrastructures and how we could prioritise the Investments to better allocate the budgets they had.
I didn't know at first that I will do this thing as my master's thesis at the World Bank but it's really in line and also on transport section, we also work on energy use and energy efficiency. So it's in line with what MINES Paris - PSL and the engineering side the MSc provided us.

In the future, I see myself mainly in an international environment. I really like working with different people from different backgrounds. And general this combination of Finance and Engineering competencies are, I think, key to better understand the main climate change issues and how we can fight it, and how we can shift to a better world.

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Our dedicated team of International Recruitment Managers and Country Managers are here to help you in your application process and check your eligibility for your preferred programme and help identify which scholarship you might be eligible for.

 

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FAQ of the MSC in Climate Change & Sustainable Finance

The Master of Science in Climate Change & Sustainable Finance is a double degree with Mines Paris - PSL that blends financial expertise with a solid understanding of the scientific and engineering challenges associated with the transition to a low-carbon economy. With this qualification, you will join an elite group of financial professionals equipped with the skills and passion to incorporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into the financial decision-making process. You will be awarded an MSc in Climate Change & Sustainable Finance from EDHEC and a specialised diploma in Finance and Climate Change from Mines Paris - PSL.

This programme is specifically designed for students with an undergraduate degree in business management or financial economics, or with an undergraduate degree in science or engineering, or a related field. It is also highly relevant for young graduates in engineering or finance who want to acquire the skillset they need to have a successful career in sustainable investing. You will need to score adequate marks on an English proficiency test unless you are a native English speaker or have completed an undergraduate degree in English. See our admissions section for more.

You can pursue a career in any number of areas with an MSc in Climate Change & Sustainable Finance, for example, as an ESG analyst, financial analyst, energy policy analyst, energy project manager, commodity broker/trader, legal and compliance officer, sustainability business consultant, sustainable investment portfolio manager, risk manager or sustainability expert.

The MSc in Climate Change & Sustainable Finance offers a hands-on approach to help you acquire hard skills through practice.

You will complete a Master’s project dedicated to sustainable finance. It is a great opportunity to apply what you just learned. The programme also includes a 4-6 month internship that you can do abroad. This is a valuable opportunity to learn your future job. You may even be hired by the company in which you did your internship. Business games and case studies will complete the programme.

These practical experiences will give you the opportunity to take part in research and projects related to sustainability during your studies.
 

Sustainable finance means taking into account environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues when making investment decisions in the financial sector.

Finance plays an important role in businesses. They have a strategic role and a strong influence on what a company can do or not. They also provide information to guide decision makers. With this influence, financial experts can be leaders of change in their organisations.
In sustainable finance, there are many actions that can be taken to address ESG issues:

  • Choosing low-carbon energy sources (such as solar panels)
  • Improving transparency and accountability
  • Limiting environmental risks
  • Promoting gender equality in the workplace

Sustainable finance has many benefits for companies.

Reducing a company’s impact on the environment involves a reduction of waste and the use of resources. One of the better ways to do this is to improve efficiency and minimise the use of resources (such as water), resulting in lower costs. Sustainable finance also works to reduce environmental risks, which tend to increase with climate change. The financial impact of a lack of risk management can be disastrous for companies.

The impact of sustainable finance goes beyond companies themselves. There is a real competitive advantage in embracing sustainable development. Customers and stakeholders are increasingly concerned about environmental and social issues. Companies that are committed to ESG have a better reputation, which leads to higher employee retention.
 

Green finance takes into account the importance of protecting the environment when making investment decisions. Sustainable finance does as well, but also includes social issues. It can be said that green finance is a part of sustainable finance.

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