Sumários

From Global Sustainability Challenges to Financial Responses

21 Setembro 2026, 17:00 • Dayane Martins Salles

  • Evolution of sustainability from an environmental and social concern into a global economic and financial agenda. 
  • Historical development from ethical investing and socially responsible investment towards a broader integration of sustainability considerations into business and financial decision-making.
  • International cooperation and the emergence of global sustainability frameworks, including the sustainable development agenda, climate commitments and biodiversity commitments. 
  • Discussion of the role of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement in translating global challenges into objectives for governments, companies and financial institutions. 
  • Analysis of the relationship between international commitments, national policies, economic transformation, investment needs and capital allocation.
  • Examination of the role of companies and the financial system in the sustainability transition.

In-class activity:

 Group case-study exercise on the implementation of sustainable finance in practice. Students analysed real cases to identify the sustainability challenge that created the investment need, the main actors and their respective roles, and the interaction between governments, companies and financial institutions. They reconstructed the flow of capital from its source to the final investment, identified the financial instruments and conditions used, and assessed how finance was mobilised and channelled towards the sustainability objective. Each group presented its analysis and conclusions to the class.

Sustainable Development Challenges

7 Setembro 2026, 17:00 • Dayane Martins Salles

  • Introduction to Sustainable Finance and to the structure and objectives of the course. 
  • Sustainable development and its environmental, social and economic dimensions, with governance as a cross-cutting element and introduction to the ESG perspective. 
  • Analysis of major sustainability challenges across different regions of the world and discussion of the unequal distribution of impacts, responsibilities and capacities to respond.
  •  Distinction between acute events/shocks and chronic or structural sustainability pressures. 
  • Analysis of how environmental and social challenges can affect people, ecosystems, infrastructure, companies and governments, generating economic consequences and, ultimately, financial impacts. 
  • Introduction to the transmission channels through which sustainability challenges become relevant to finance.

In-class activity:
Group case-study exercise – From Sustainability Challenges to Financial Impacts. Students analysed a real-world sustainability case and constructed a causal chain from the original environmental, social or governance challenge to its economic and financial consequences. The exercise required identification of the affected actors, transmission of impacts to companies, governments or markets, the point at which financial variables became relevant, and the responses adopted. Groups supported their analysis with evidence from the case and presented their conclusions to the class.