This article first appeared on 04 May 2023 on IrishTimes.com

Aimed at graduates who are keen to pursue a career in the growing number of organisations in the sustainable business and finance industries, the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School MSc in Renewable Energy and Environmental Finance advances students’ understanding of finance theory and the application of sustainability factors to financial markets.

The course also features a strong low-carbon energy component and aims to equip students with creative and analytical approaches to problem-solving in the sustainable finance context.

The greening of financial markets is accelerating at a rapid pace, notes academic director Tiffany Thng. “The world’s first green bond was issued by the World Bank back in 2008,” she adds. “Investments in green and sustainable bonds has been growing ever since.”

According to the most recent statistics from the World Bank, investments in bonds supporting environmental and social projects has grown to almost $4 trillion (€3.6 trillion). But even that immense figure is dwarfed by the level of investment required to achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 which has been put at between $5 and $7 trillion annually across both the public and private sectors.

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