ESCP Europe

Finance is widely seen as an obstacle to a better world. Principles of Sustainable Finance explains how the financial sector can be mobilized to counter this. Using finance as a means to achieve social goals we can divert the planet and its economy from its current path to a world that is sustainable for all. Written for undergraduate, graduate, and executive students of finance, economics, business, and sustainability, this textbook combines theory, empirical data, and policy to explain the sustainability challenges for corporate investment. It shows how finance can steer funding to certain companies and projects without sacrificing return and thus speed up the transition to a sustainable economy. It analyses the Sustainable Development Goals as a strategy for a better world and provides evidence that environmental, social, and governance factors matter, explaining in detail how to incorporate these factors in the corporate and financial sectors. Tailored for students, Principles of Sustainable Finance starts each chapter with an overview and learning objectives to support study. It includes suggestions for further reading, lists and definitions of key concepts, and extensive uses of figures, boxes, and tables to enhance educational goals and clarify concepts.

Table of Contents -- Part I: What is Sustainability and Why Does it Matter? -- 1:Sustainability and the Transition Challenge -- Part II: Sustainability's Challenges to corporates -- 2:Externalities Internalisation -- 3:Governance and Behaviour -- 4:Coalitions for Sustainable Finance -- 5:Strategy and Intangibles - Changing Business Models -- 6:Integrated Reporting - Metrics and Data -- Part III: Financing Sustainability -- 7:Investing for Long-Term Value Creation -- 8:Equity - Investing with an Ownership Stake -- 9:Bonds - Investing without voting power -- 10:Banking - New Forms of Lending -- 11:Insurance - Managing Long-Term Risk Part IV: How To Get There? -- 12:Transition Management and Integrated Thinking.