Course description

Title of the Teaching Unit

Sustainable Finance

Code of the Teaching Unit

21FFM42

Academic year

2026 - 2027

Cycle

Number of credits

Number of hours

Quarter

Weighting

Site

Anjou

Teaching language

French

Teacher in charge

DUMAS Christel

Objectives and contribution to the program

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge
• Explain the main concepts of sustainable finance and their theoretical foundations.
• Understand the interactions between financial, social, and ecological systems.
• Explain ESG approaches, sustainable investing, climate finance, and biodiversity finance.
• Understand the main European regulations on sustainable finance (Taxonomy, SFDR, CSRD, CSDDD).
• Identify the limitations and controversies related to ESG data, impact measurement, and sustainable financial mechanisms.

Applied skills
• Critically analyze a situation or financial product from a sustainability perspective.
• Assess the environmental, social, and economic impacts of financial decisions.
• Draw on different theoretical frameworks to shed light on complex dilemmas.
• Analyze climate, biodiversity, and transition risks.
• Develop a well-reasoned argument on desirable transformations of the financial system.

Contribution to ICHEC final competencies
1. Developing oneself
The course invites students to question their relationship with finance, reflect on the purpose of their future profession, and develop a professional stance consistent with sustainability issues. The numerous readings, discussions, and reflective activities foster intellectual autonomy and openness to different perspectives.
Competencies activated: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4
Competencies assessed: 1.2, 1.3

2. Exercising critical thinking
The course takes an explicitly critical approach to sustainable finance. Students learn to analyze the limitations of existing frameworks, question the quality of ESG data, understand the effects of financial models, and compare theories against the reality of social and environmental issues.
Competencies activated and assessed: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.5
Competency activated: 2.4

3. Designing desirable futures
This competency is at the heart of the course. Students explore different visions of finance in service of the ecological and social transition, analyze the conditions for a just transition, and reflect on the role of finance in building sustainable trajectories.
Competencies activated and assessed: 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5

4. Deciding
Through case studies and discussions of public policy, students develop their ability to simultaneously integrate financial, social, and environmental criteria into their analyses and decisions.
Competencies activated and assessed: 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7

5. Undertaking
Students are led to imagine innovative solutions to the challenges of the ecological transition, to evaluate different sustainable financing models, and to manage the uncertainty associated with ongoing transformations.
Competencies activated: 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4
Competencies assessed: 5.2, 5.4

6. Communicating
The course relies on strong active participation. Debates, discussions, role-plays, case studies, and group activities allow students to develop their argumentation skills and their written and oral communication.
Competencies activated and assessed: 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4

7. Collaborating
The teaching activities foster collective learning, active listening, and the constructive confrontation of varied points of view.
Competencies activated: 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5
Competencies assessed: 7.1, 7.4

Prerequisites and corequisites

none

Content

Financial systems play a decisive role in the allocation of capital, the direction of economic activity, and society's ability to meet the major challenges of the 21st century. In the face of climate crises, biodiversity loss, social inequalities, and planetary boundaries, sustainable finance questions the purposes of finance and its potential contribution to an economy compatible with sustainability goals.
This course offers a critical analysis of the theories, tools, actors, and regulations of sustainable finance. Beyond understanding ESG approaches, students explore the tensions, paradoxes, and controversies running through the financial sector: the financialization of nature, the limitations of ESG data, just transition, greenwashing, impact measurement, and trade-offs between profitability, sustainability, and social justice. The common thread running through the course is finance as a lever for transforming socio-ecological systems.

Course content
Part 1 – The purpose of finance
This first part examines the role of finance in society and its potential contribution to ecological and social transitions.
Students explore the purpose of finance, the origins of sustainable finance, planetary boundaries, complex systems, double materiality, and the major sustainability challenges. Particular attention is given to the work of Polanyi, Meadows, Rockström, and Raworth, in order to develop a systemic understanding of the relationships between finance, society, and the environment.
Part 2 – The practices and instruments of sustainable finance
This part presents the main actors, mechanisms, and tools of sustainable finance.
Students analyze the different sustainable investment strategies (ESG, impact, shareholder engagement), ESG data and ratings, greenwashing risks, and the main sustainable financial instruments such as green bonds, sustainability-linked bonds, and transition financing.
Modern portfolio theory and traditional financial models are also discussed critically

Part 3 – Climate, biodiversity, and social justice
This part examines the main issues that sustainable finance seeks to address.
Students study climate risks, carbon markets, Net Zero trajectories, and the role of the financial sector in climate change adaptation and mitigation. They also explore issues related to biodiversity, natural capital, and conservation financing mechanisms (such as Blue Bonds).
Finally, the course addresses the human dimensions of the transition through the concepts of just transition, financial inclusion, microfinance, and the Lonmin/Marikana case.

Part 4 – The European regulatory framework for sustainable finance
The final part is devoted to the European regulatory architecture.
Students discover the main frameworks that currently govern sustainable finance: the European Green Deal, the Taxonomy, the SFDR, the CSRD, the ESRS standards, the CSDDD, and mechanisms aimed at combating greenwashing.
This part helps students understand how public authorities seek to direct financial flows toward activities compatible with the European Union's environmental and social objectives.

Teaching methods

The course combines:

* interactive lectures;
* group discussions;
* case studies;
* Open Space Forum;
* experiential activities;
* applied exercises;
* critical analysis of documents;
* structured debates;
* site visits and talks by practitioners (Finance Watch, Citizenfund, Belgian Impact Days, etc.).

Assessment method

1. Class participation (20%). Class participation, worth 4 points of your final grade, is assessed based on active and relevant participation in collaborative moments, discussions, or debates.
2. A final oral exam during the exam session will cover all the key concepts addressed in the course, with particular emphasis on applying financial principles to a specific case of an impact investment fund (80%). The exam assesses:
· mastery of theoretical concepts;
· understanding of regulatory frameworks;
· the ability to draw on the different models studied;
· critical analysis of complex sustainable finance issues;
· the ability to articulate financial, social, and environmental dimensions in a well-reasoned argument

References

Main reference: Schoenmaker, Dirk, & Schramade, Willem (2021). Principles of Sustainable Finance. Oxford University Press

Other references:
Albert Hirschman. 1972. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, Harvard University Press, 1972

Bugg-Levine, Antony, & Emerson, Jed (2011). Impact Investing: Transforming How We Make Money While Making a Difference. Jossey-Bass.
Chatterji, A. K., Durand, R., Levine, D. I., & Touboul, S. (2016). Do ratings of firms converge? Implications for managers, investors and strategy researchers. Strategic Management Journal, 37(8):1597-1614

Dumas, C., & Louche, C. (2016). Collective beliefs on responsible investment. Business & Society, 55(3), 427-457.

Eccles, Robert G., & Klimenko, Svetlana (2019). The Investor Revolution. Harvard Business Review, May-June 2019.
European Commission action plan on financing sustainable growth. https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/180308-action-plan-sustainable-growth_en

Juravle, C., & Lewis, A. (2008). Identifying impediments to SRI in Europe: a review of the practitioner and academic literature. Business Ethics: A European Review, 17(3), 285-310.

Margolis, Joshua D., and James P. Walsh. 2002. “Misery Loves Companies” Harvard University working paper.

Paetzold, F., & Busch, T. (2014). Unleashing the powerful few: Sustainable investing behaviour of wealthy private investors. Organization & Environment, 27(4), 347-367.

UN PRI (Principles for Responsible Investment) (2020). A Practical Guide to ESG Integration for Equity Investing.