We have created a preparatory reading list. We strongly recommend that you work through this reading list prior to starting the programme.
The MSc in Climate Change Finance and Investment will require you to quickly get up to speed with the basics of climate change science and policy, and the fundamentals of conventional finance, so that we can proceed to explore carbon finance in greater depth. Depending on your background, one area may be more challenging than another, and we recommend that you focus your pre-reading on the area with which you are least familiar.
Please note: We will also separately email you with a pre-sessional checklist of fundamental concepts related to finance, economics, energy, and a number of further suggested readings.
Recommended Reading
Climate change and the economy
- Climate Change: Evidence and Causes 2020 (PDF). Royal Society.
- The Stern Review: A Summary (PDF). UK Government
- The History of Global Climate Change Negotiations. House of Commons Library.
- Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5ºC. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
- Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability—Summary for Policy Makers. IPCC.
- Net Zero by 2050. International Energy Agency (IEA).
- Adapt Now: A Global Call for Leadership on Climate (PDF). Global Commission on Adaptation.
- BBC Glossary of Climate Change Acronyms and Terms 2021.
Climate change, finance, and investment
- Finance guide for policy-makers. Provides a factual overview of the landscape of finance – sources of capital, what the capital markets do, how transactions work – and more broadly to set common finance terms in context.
- Finance for climate action: scaling up investment for climate and development. Report of the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance is intended to provide a framework for finance for climate action, covering the overall needs for the comprehensive approach embodied in the Paris Agreement and UNFCCC.
- GFANZ 2022 Progress Report. Details the progress GFANZ has made in 2022 under our program of work to support financial institutions in operationalizing their net-zero commitments, accelerate capital mobilization to EM&DEs, and advocate for credible policies and standards to enable net-zero transition across the globe.
- Recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures 2017 (PDF). Presents an introduction and an overview of the work of the TCFD.
- Global Landscape of Climate Finance: A Decade of Data. Presents an overview of the types and magnitude of finance flows for renewable energy.
- State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2023. Presents an overview of the key trends in carbon markets and carbon pricing internationally.
A few key corporate finance concepts
- 'Double materiality': what is it and why does it matter? This short commentary introduces this concept that links the impacts of climate change on companies and the impact of companies on climate change.
- Fundamentals of Corporate Finance (7th Edition) - Richard A. Brealey, Stewart C. Myers, and Alan J. Marcus. Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5-9, and 11-13. McGraw-Hill International Edition.