Course 2026-2027 a.y.

Classes: 99 (I sem.)

Instructors:
Class 99: HANNES WAGNER

The course is subject to competitive selection; enrolment is capped and admission is by application. Basic corporate finance and valuation, and comfort with data, are useful. Some programming exposure (Python or R) helps with the project work but is not required; the analytical tools used in the lab are introduced during the course.

The Climate Finance Lab is an intensive, project-based course in which students apply finance and data-analytic methods to real climate- and ESG-related problems set in partnership with industry firms. Working in small teams, students move from foundational concepts — physical and transition risk, the TCFD framework, climate scenarios, and ESG data and ratings — to a substantive analytical project developed over three weeks with practitioner mentorship, which they present at a concluding event attended by practitioners. The lab emphasises analytical rigour and current methods, including LLM-based analysis of corporate disclosures, and gives students the experience of producing and presenting professional-quality analytical work to an industry audience.

The lab runs as a four-week intensive in Semester I (January–February 2027):

 

•       Foundations (pre-work): asynchronous modules on climate finance fundamentals, ESG integration, and ESG data/analytics, plus an individual disclosure-analysis assignment.

•       Kickoff: plenary session introducing the four analytical challenge tracks and forming teams.

•       Project phase (approximately three weeks): teams develop their analysis with practitioner mentorship and access to real datasets.

•       Concluding event: team presentations assessed by a practitioner panel, parallel masterclass sessions, and a closing session.

 

The four analytical challenge tracks are:

•       Climate factor construction for systematic portfolios.

•       Transition-risk assessment (e.g. for European utilities).

•       ESG controversy detection from text and filings.

•       Transition-plan credibility assessment.

 

Challenges are set in partnership with industry firms and may vary by edition.

At the end of the course student will be able to...

•       Distinguish physical from transition climate risk and locate them within the TCFD framework and climate scenarios.

•       Describe the main ESG integration approaches and the principal ESG data sources, rating methodologies, and their limitations.

•       Explain at least one current research-grade method for analysing corporate climate disclosures (e.g. NLP / LLM-based materiality and disclosure-quality assessment).

At the end of the course student will be able to...

•       Assess a company's climate disclosure against the TCFD framework and identify material climate risks.

•       Carry out a team analytical project on one of the lab's challenge tracks, working with real data.

•       Communicate analytical findings to a practitioner audience through a structured presentation

• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Individual works / Assignments
• Collaborative Works / Assignments
• Competitions/Hackathons

•       Guest speaker’s talks (in class or in distance) — practitioner mentors and the concluding masterclass.

•       Individual works / Assignments — the pre-work assignment.

•       Collaborative Works / Assignments — the three-week team project.

•       Competitions / Hackathons — teams compete on a shared challenge track, judged by a practitioner panel.

	Continuous assessment	Partial exams	General exam
Individual Works/ Assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)	x
Collaborative Works / Assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)	x
Active class participation (virtual, attendance)	x

Assessment is continuous, distributed across the four weeks, and comprises three components:

 

1. Individual pre-work — a short individual climate-disclosure analysis, assessed against a rubric.
2. Team project — the team deliverable (analytical presentation plus supporting materials), assessed against a published rubric covering analytical rigour, business insight, and communication, and including the concluding oral presentation.
3. Active participation — attendance at the two mandatory synchronous sessions (online kickoff and the in-person event) and active engagement in team and mentorship work.