Sustainable Investment Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Pension fund trustees, Investment managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-TI-032

Before you join: Participants should understand core investment concepts, including asset classes, risk and return, benchmarks, portfolio diversification, investment mandates and external manager relationships.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Pension funds, insurers, endowments and corporate retirement schemes must account for financially material sustainability factors while meeting fiduciary duties, return targets, liquidity needs and reporting obligations. Investment teams face inconsistent ESG data, varied regulatory expectations, competing climate scenarios and scrutiny of stewardship claims. Decisions must be evidenced through documented policies, manager selection, portfolio analysis and beneficiary reporting rather than broad sustainability statements.

This course examines sustainable investment management from the perspective of institutional asset owners and their advisers. Participants assess material ESG risks and opportunities, translate investment beliefs into governance and policy language, evaluate external managers, and incorporate climate, stewardship and exclusion decisions into portfolio processes. The course covers the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, ISSB sustainability disclosures, TCFD-based climate analysis, SFDR classifications, ESG integration, thematic investing, impact approaches, engagement, voting and portfolio reporting. Participants also examine the limits of ratings, data coverage and carbon metrics.

Teaching combines practitioner briefings with pension-fund cases, manager due-diligence reviews, portfolio allocation discussions, climate-risk interpretation and reporting critiques. Participants work with realistic investment committee materials and leave with a sustainable investment policy framework, ESG manager scorecard, stewardship checklist, climate-risk dashboard specification and implementation plan. The course is delivered over five days in the classroom or live online, with approximately 32.5 contact hours, and includes a certificate of completion.

It is suited to professionals responsible for pension assets, treasury reserves, insurance portfolios, endowments, investment governance and external manager oversight.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess financially material ESG factors using sector, asset-class and issuer analysis
  • Draft sustainable investment policy provisions aligned with fiduciary duties and investment beliefs
  • Evaluate external managers using an ESG integration and stewardship due-diligence scorecard
  • Interpret climate-risk metrics, scenario analysis and financed-emissions reporting limitations
  • Distinguish ESG integration, exclusions, thematic investing and impact investment approaches
  • Design stewardship priorities, engagement escalation routes and proxy-voting oversight processes
  • Compare sustainability disclosure requirements using ISSB, TCFD and SFDR concepts
  • Produce an implementation plan linking governance, data, portfolio actions and reporting

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Ability to challenge ESG claims in manager presentations and investment papers
  • Practical language for writing sustainable investment policy and mandate requirements
  • Confidence interpreting climate metrics without treating them as investment forecasts
  • Structured approach to trustee, committee and beneficiary sustainability discussions
  • Reusable evidence base for investment governance and stewardship recommendations

For your organisation

  • Clearer documentation of fiduciary rationale for sustainability-related investment decisions
  • More consistent ESG expectations across external managers and asset classes
  • Improved identification of climate, transition and governance investment risks
  • Stronger stewardship oversight through defined voting and engagement controls
  • More credible sustainability reporting for trustees, beneficiaries and regulators

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish sustainable investment approaches and relate them to institutional investment objectives.

  • Institutional investor objectives, fiduciary duty and long-term value creation
  • Sustainable investment terminology: ESG integration, screening, thematic and impact approaches
  • Financial materiality assessed through cash flows, risk premiums and valuation
  • Double materiality compared with investor-focused financial materiality assessments
  • UN Principles for Responsible Investment and asset-owner commitments
  • Investment beliefs translated into policy, mandate and governance requirements
  • Greenwashing risks identified through claims, labels, disclosures and evidence

Participants can draft governance and policy provisions for sustainable investment oversight.

  • Board, trustee, committee and executive responsibilities for investment oversight
  • Fiduciary duty interpreted alongside return, risk, liquidity and time horizon
  • Sustainable investment policy structure: beliefs, objectives, scope and accountability
  • Delegated authority mapped between asset owners, consultants and managers
  • Conflict-of-interest controls for voting, engagement and manager selection
  • Investment committee papers documenting ESG rationale and decision evidence
  • Policy review cycles triggered by regulation, data or strategy changes

Participants can assess ESG information quality and identify material investment signals.

  • Sector materiality maps linking ESG issues to enterprise value
  • Issuer analysis combines governance, strategy, controversy and performance evidence
  • ESG ratings compared for methodology, coverage, weighting and disagreement
  • Data gaps tested through source checks, estimates and reporting boundaries
  • Principal adverse impacts distinguished from financially material investment factors
  • Controversy screens assessed for severity, recurrence, response and remediation
  • Research notes separate evidence, assumptions, judgement and investment implications

Participants can interpret climate-risk analysis and its implications for portfolio oversight.

  • Physical and transition risks mapped to issuers and asset classes
  • TCFD framework applied to governance, strategy, risk management and metrics
  • Climate scenario analysis distinguishes pathways, assumptions, outputs and limitations
  • Financed emissions calculated using enterprise value and attribution methods
  • Carbon footprint, carbon intensity and temperature metrics compared carefully
  • Transition plans reviewed for targets, capital expenditure and accountability
  • Portfolio decarbonisation targets assessed against benchmark and mandate constraints

Participants can select appropriate sustainable investment techniques for major asset classes.

  • Listed equity integration links ESG drivers to valuation and engagement
  • Fixed-income analysis tests issuer creditworthiness, covenants and use-of-proceeds
  • Green bond frameworks reviewed for allocation, reporting and external review
  • Private-market due diligence examines governance, incidents and ownership influence
  • Real-assets assessments address energy efficiency, resilience and tenant exposure
  • Sovereign analysis considers institutions, social stability and environmental vulnerability
  • Cash and short-term portfolios apply exclusions, issuer limits and liquidity controls

Participants can compare portfolio implementation choices and their investment consequences.

  • Negative screening specifies exclusions, thresholds, revenue tests and exceptions
  • Best-in-class selection compares peer performance within defined investment universes
  • Thematic allocations assess structural drivers, valuation risk and concentration
  • Impact investment distinguishes intentionality, additionality, measurement and financial return
  • Benchmark selection examines index rules, turnover, tracking error and investability
  • Active ownership complements portfolio construction where divestment has limited influence
  • Risk budgets quantify factor tilts, concentration and benchmark deviation

Participants can evaluate managers' ESG processes, stewardship capability and reporting quality.

  • Request-for-proposal questions test ESG governance, resources and decision rights
  • Manager due diligence traces research inputs through portfolio decisions
  • Investment mandates define ESG objectives, restrictions, reporting and escalation
  • Track records reviewed for attribution, engagement outcomes and implementation consistency
  • Team incentives assessed for alignment with long-term client objectives
  • Monitoring scorecards combine holdings data, controversies, voting and engagement evidence
  • Termination triggers identify persistent mandate breaches and unsupported ESG claims

Participants can establish stewardship oversight processes with defined escalation and evidence requirements.

  • Stewardship objectives prioritise financially material issuer and systemic risks
  • Engagement plans define objectives, milestones, timeframes and accountable owners
  • Escalation ladders progress from dialogue to voting and collaborative action
  • Proxy-voting policies address board elections, climate resolutions and remuneration
  • Collaborative engagement assessed for influence, governance and competition-law boundaries
  • Engagement outcomes recorded using objectives, evidence, changes and next actions
  • Service-provider oversight reviews voting records, rationales and policy exceptions

Participants can assess disclosure requirements and prepare decision-useful sustainable investment reporting.

  • ISSB standards introduce investor-focused sustainability and climate disclosure requirements
  • SFDR classifications distinguish Article 6, Article 8 and Article 9
  • Regulatory applicability assessed by domicile, product, client and distribution channel
  • Sustainability reports connect policy commitments, portfolio metrics and stewardship activity
  • Metric selection considers relevance, comparability, data quality and decision usefulness
  • Beneficiary communications explain objectives, trade-offs, limitations and performance context
  • Assurance readiness tested through controls, data lineage and documented methodologies

Participants can prepare a sequenced sustainable investment implementation plan for committee approval.

  • Current-state assessment identifies policy, governance, data and capability gaps
  • Materiality priorities ranked against portfolio exposure and stakeholder expectations
  • Implementation roadmap sequences quick controls, manager actions and strategic changes
  • RACI matrices assign accountability for policy, monitoring, reporting and stewardship
  • Key performance indicators link actions to portfolio and governance outcomes
  • Investment committee recommendations present options, trade-offs, costs and residual risks
  • Ninety-day action plans establish owners, milestones and review dates

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Sustainable investment policy template
  2. ESG manager due-diligence scorecard
  3. Climate-risk dashboard specification
  4. Stewardship escalation checklist
  5. Investment committee paper template
  6. Ninety-day implementation plan

Who should attend

  • Pension fund trustees — need defensible oversight of sustainable investment decisions
  • Investment managers — need consistent ESG integration and client reporting methods
  • Treasury managers — need sustainable criteria for reserves and liquidity portfolios
  • Insurance investment professionals — need climate and stewardship controls for long-term assets
  • Investment consultants — need structured frameworks for advising institutional clients
  • Finance directors — need governance visibility over investment-related sustainability exposures

Skills and tools covered

ESG integrationClimate risk analysisManager due diligenceStewardship oversightSustainable investment policyESG reporting

Tools and standards

UN Principles for Responsible Investment, ISSB Standards, TCFD Recommendations, Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation

How the course runs

Training methodology

The programme uses short practitioner briefings to establish investment concepts, standards and governance requirements. Participants analyse institutional portfolio cases, compare manager proposals, review ESG disclosures and interpret climate-risk evidence. Small-group work tests policy wording, due-diligence questions, stewardship decisions and reporting choices against realistic committee scenarios. Simulations examine trade-offs between return objectives, exclusions, tracking error, liquidity and beneficiary expectations. Facilitated application planning helps participants adapt the methods to their own investment governance arrangements.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand core investment concepts, including asset classes, risk and return, benchmarks, portfolio diversification, investment mandates and external manager relationships. Experience in pension funds, insurance investments, treasury portfolios, endowments, wealth management or investment consulting is helpful. Participants should be comfortable reading basic fund factsheets and investment committee papers. Prior ESG, climate science, sustainability reporting or impact-investing knowledge is not required. The course does not require quantitative modelling, programming, carbon-accounting certification or prior familiarity with specific sustainability regulations.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic investment concepts such as asset classes, diversification, benchmarks and risk-return trade-offs. ESG expertise, climate-science knowledge and prior sustainability reporting experience are not required.

Bring a laptop if possible and, where permitted, a current investment policy, manager questionnaire or sustainability report from your organisation. Course materials and case documents are provided.

It is designed for pension trustees, investment professionals, treasury managers, insurers, consultants, finance leaders and those overseeing external investment managers. It is particularly relevant where investment decisions require committee approval or beneficiary reporting.

This course focuses on institutional investment decisions, fiduciary duty, portfolio construction, manager oversight, stewardship and investment reporting. It does not focus on operational carbon reduction, corporate sustainability strategy or environmental management systems.

Participants can use the policy template, manager scorecard, stewardship checklist and implementation plan in investment governance work. The methods support investment committee papers, manager reviews, mandate updates and sustainability reporting.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is allocated across ten teaching modules, practitioner briefings, case analysis, group work, simulations and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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