Sustainable investing

Overview

What you will study

With reference to international developments, the Sustainable investing course offered by University of Cape Town will provide a big-picture insight into all the relevant legislation, policy documents and publications in South Africa to equip participants with a more in-depth understanding to allow them to be proactive in their approach to applying sustainable investing principles in their organisation.

Traditional investing provides short-term value to investors by delivering an expected return on capital. The concept of sustainable investing is to provide balance to this investment process by using environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria to improve long-term outcomes. Developments internationally and in South African, including the introduction of our own green taxonomy in 2022, illustrate the increasing importance of principles of “sustainable investing” to the investment industry. A foundational understanding of these principles from legislation to policy documents is therefore critical for their proper application to the investment process and the compliance and reporting thereof.