The Environmental & Social Risk Analysis (ESRA) Online Course provides in-depth and personalised training. Tutors engage with participants online on a daily basis, providing guidance and facilitating debates. As a participant, you will be involved in a range of activities, from simulating implementation of environmental and social policies and guidelines and analysing case studies, to carrying out exercises based on your own clients’ environmental and social impacts.
Courses in 2011:
| Dates | Language | Tutors |
| 14 February - 4 March | Spanish | Lawrence Pratt (Costa Rica) and Edgar Rojas (Colombia) |
| 28 February - 18 March | English | Lawrence Pratt (Costa Rica) and Christina Wood (South Africa) |
| 28 March - 15 April | French | Isabelle Blaes (France) |
| 9 - 27 May | Spanish | Lawrence Pratt (Costa Rica) and Edgar Rojas (Colombia) |
| 30 May - 17 June | English | Lawrence Pratt (Costa Rica) and Melissa Makwarimba (Mozambique) |
| 1 - 19 August | Spanish | Lawrence Pratt (Costa Rica) and Edgar Rojas (Colombia) |
| 8 - 26 August | English | Lawrence Pratt (Costa Rica) and Jacylyn Shi (China) |
| 3 - 21 October | French | Isabelle Blaes (France) and Regina Scharf (United States) |
| 31 October - 18 November | Spanish | Lawrence Pratt (Costa Rica) and Edgar Rojas (Colombia) |
| 7 - 25 November | English | Lawrence Pratt (Costa Rica) and Mariángeles Camargo (United States) |
The ESRA Online Course Partners also offer Private Editions of the courses to the staff of a single FI or of a small group of FIs. Contact us for further information on terms and conditions.
Target audience: Risk managers and analysts in commercial, corporate, investment and retail banking in or dealing with developing countries and emerging markets.
A limited number of places are also available for representatives from relevant stakeholder audiences including: supervisory/regulatory bodies, banking associations, government agencies, academic institutions, NGOs and civil society organisations involved in finance and sustainability issues.
Please note that places for non-financial institution representatives are limited. Courses will not address how to financially analyse or how to set up a business plan for an environmental/socially oriented project in search of funding. The courses teach participants how to include environmental and social variables in the traditional analysis made by financial analysts when making lending and/or investment decisions, whatever the nature of the project.
Contents: Each course is made up of five consecutive modules:
- Introduction to Sustainable Finance
- Identification of Environmental and Social Risks
- Categorization
- Evaluation of Environmental and Social Risks
- Administration of Environmental and Social Risks
Course contents and materials can only be accessed by participants. The course modules cannot be disaggregated.
Duration: Three weeks
Time commitment: Two hours/day on average, Monday to Friday
Timetable: Flexible, participants to set their own study times
Cost*:
| Participant Profile | Fee |
| Representatives of multinationals, multilaterals, private banks and large public FIs | 750 USD |
| Representatives of small local banks, sme/microfinance oriented entities | 600 USD |
*Discounts are available for Programme Partner members or associates (e.g. UNEP FI Signatories)
Please note that course fees serve exclusively to cover the costs of running the course.
Applications: All applications should be submitted via our online form at least one week prior to the course you wish to participate in. Please consult our FAQs concerning applications. On-line registration: English Spanish The ESRA Online Course is a product of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, and the INCAE Business School, with the support of the Ecobanking Project. Initially developed in Spanish in 2006 by the UNEP FI Latin American Regional Task Force, with the support of Bank of America, the English-language edition of the course was produced in 2007 thanks to the support of FMO. The French edition of the Course was produced in 2010 thanks to the support of DEG - Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH ("DEG"), Promotion et Participation pour la Coopération économique (Proparco) and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
