Climate Investing study guide
Climate Investing · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Climate Risk, Valuation, and Investing Certificate is a self-paced, five-course online program from CFA Institute that teaches how to build climate considerations into investment decision-making and how to explain climate concepts to clients and stakeholders. It sits on the sustainability learning path and is positioned as the more advanced option: the Sustainable Investing Certificate builds foundational sustainability knowledge, while this certificate develops the practical skills needed to apply climate considerations in valuation and portfolio construction. The Climate Investing study guide has 5 sections and about 2,297 words.
01Climate Science, Risks, and Regulations
This domain tests whether you can convert physical climate science into financially usable risk statements and place them inside the disclosure architecture now converging on the ISSB baseline. IPCC AR6 puts the remaining carbon budget from 2020 at roughly 500 GtCO2 for a 50% chance of holding 1.5°C, and about 1,350 GtCO2 for 2°C.
467 words, about 2 min02Transition Finance
Transition finance is the financing of decarbonisation in emissions-intensive or hard-to-abate activities, as opposed to green finance, which finances assets that are already low-carbon. The exam tests whether you can judge credibility rather than label.
445 words, about 2 min03Climate and Valuation: Listed Equity and Debt
This domain tests the mechanics of attributing emissions to a listed holding, the metrics you report, and how climate risk actually reaches a discounted cash flow or a credit spread. PCAF methodology: financed emissions equal the attribution factor multiplied by the borrower's emissions.
474 words, about 2 min04Climate and Valuation: Alternatives
Private markets test the same climate logic at asset level, where there is no liquid market price and the analyst must build the cash flows. The exam focuses on real assets, private equity and natural capital.
449 words, about 2 min05Portfolio Management and Stewardship for Climate Risk
This domain tests target setting, the levers available to a portfolio manager, and whether engagement is real or rhetorical. Expect questions that force you to distinguish portfolio decarbonisation from real-world decarbonisation.
462 words, about 2 min