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Description

Sustainable Finance: Understanding the Issues, Decoding Products and Asking the Right Questions

Understand what really lies behind an investment presented as sustainable and learn to ask the right questions

  • 1 day — 7 h
  • In-person or virtual
  • Foundation
  • Up to 6 participants

Sustainable finance has become an ever-present commercial argument. Certifications and labels multiply, vocabularies overlap, and savers as well as employees struggle to tell a genuinely selective fund from a product that has simply been renamed. Conversations stall for lack of shared reference points on investment approaches and on what the headline indicators actually measure.

This seven-hour online programme sets out the essentials in terms accessible to everyone. Participants position the issues, understand the main responsible investment approaches, decode a product's documentation and learn to formulate the questions that make sound judgement possible.

Learning objectives

  • Position the environmental and social issues that affect the financing of the economy
  • Distinguish the main responsible investment approaches
  • Decode the commercial and regulatory documentation of a product
  • Interpret the non-financial indicators disclosed by a fund
  • Identify misleading claims in financial communication
  • Formulate the questions to ask before subscribing to or recommending a product

What makes this programme different

The programme is followed at your own pace, with short sequences and exercises after each concept
Commercial documents from real products are decoded line by line
A question grid is provided to interrogate a product or a fund manager

Programme

1Issues and Vocabulary

Building shared reference points

  • Links between the financing of the economy and the transitions under way
  • Origins and rise of sustainable finance
  • Vocabulary of the environmental, social and governance dimensions
  • Players across the investment chain and the role of each
  • Expectations of savers and of the companies being financed

2Approaches and Products

Understanding what a fund actually does

  • Exclusion, best-in-class selection and thematic approaches
  • Impact investing and the direct financing of projects
  • Role of shareholder engagement and voting
  • Reading certifications and labels and what they actually guarantee
  • Position of these products within a savings offering

3Reading, Analysing and Questioning

Judging on the evidence

  • Reading the regulatory and commercial documentation of a product
  • Interpreting the published non-financial indicators
  • Warning signs of misleading communication
  • Questions to put to the fund manager or the distributor
  • Monitoring an investment over time

Who is it for

Banking and insurance professionals, wealth advisers, private investors and employees wishing to understand sustainable finance.

Prerequisites

No prior knowledge required

Dates & locations

36 scheduled dates between November 2026 and December 2027. Seats are confirmed in the order enquiries are received.

November 2026

December 2026

January 2027

February 2027

March 2027

April 2027

May 2027

June 2027

September 2027

October 2027

November 2027

December 2027

None of these dates suit you? We open additional sessions on request, and any programme can be run privately for your team.

Practical details

Before the programme
Online positioning questionnaire. Your development objectives are shared with the trainer, who tailors the practical case studies to your context.
Teaching methods
Theoretical input, workshops and practical case studies. Digital course materials and method sheets provided.
Assessment
Multiple-choice tests and role-play exercises. Assessment of learning at the start and end of the programme, with immediate and 60-day follow-up evaluations.
After the programme
One year of access to the e-learning platform. Self-assessment of the skills acquired and a 30-day follow-up session with your trainer.
How to register
Registration online or on the basis of a quotation.
Lead time
11 working days after confirmation of registration.
Accessibility
Accessible to people of determination. Contact our accessibility coordinator to design a suitable solution: contact@mpf-academy.ae
Start dates
Rolling intake: in addition to the scheduled sessions, this programme can start on request.