ESG-focused Financial Products

Overview

As ESG investing continues to evolve, so do the funding mechanisms many companies, organizations, and governments use to finance their stated goals. Indeed, ESG-focused financial products, or ‘green assets’, have been growing in volume – as well as by type. In the fixed income space alone, instruments available to investors include green bonds, social bonds, sustainability-linked bonds, climate awareness bonds, gender bonds, and others – not to mention a growing list of ESG-themed exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Through this series of videos, webinars, and readings, students with basic knowledge of traditional financial products (e.g., bonds, ETFs) will learn how to describe various characteristics of green assets, including the supply, demand, and performance of green bonds, as well as holdings of certain ESG-themed ETFs, and discuss the recent growth of related fund flows. They should also be able to explain the principles and frameworks behind the issuance of different ESG-related fixed income products, as well as provide insights into how certain government and central bank policies may pose some critical challenges in this space.