Press release

Eurosif members and affiliates participate in pan-European consortium launching sustainable investment training course for financial advisers.

18 June 2015

The German, Austrian, Lichtenstein and Swiss Sustainable Investment Forum (FNG) and the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) as well as Ethix SRI Advisors, Kalaidos University and Novethic participate in a consortium – part of the Lifelong Learning Programme supported by the European Commission – aiming to train financial advisers and other finance professionals with an interest in sustainable and responsible investment.

The consortium of nine European partners has launches the pilot phase of the Sustainable Investment Training course pilot phase in June. The training programme is composed of different modules, including e-learning units and a webinar or in-person workshop respectively – depending on the language and country of participants.

The implications of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues on investment and finance decisions have become steadily more important for the finance sector. In a world of increasing resource scarcity, climate change risk and growing social inequality, financial advisers need to understand how these, and other ESG issues, affect their clients and their financial futures. The Sustainable Investment Training Course provides a learning scheme and educational material for Europe-based financial advisers to enhance their competences and skills regarding sustainable investment.

Course participants are not expected to have any existing expertise and experience with sustainable investment. Financial advisers who are already active in this area have the option of skipping the first, entry-level module and advancing straight to the more in-depth sections by passing an online test. Competency and knowledge with regards to sustainable investment are important parts of offering clients comprehensive, expert financial advice and may be of added benefit to advisers by allowing them to profit from a growing trend and acquire new clients.

This Sustainable Investment Training Course is part of the Lifelong Learning Programme supported by the European Commission. The project consortium is made up of the following organisations:

  • ÖGUT – Austria (Project Coordination)
  • akaryon GmbH – Austria · ECOeffekt – Germany
  • Ethix SRI Advisors – Sweden
  • FNG – Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland
  • Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences – Switzerland
  • Novethic – France
  • UKSIF – United Kingdom
  • Ghent University – Belgium

All nine partners are established stakeholders in their respective countries in terms of sustainable investment. The Sustainable Investment Training Course will be available in English, German, French and Swedish.

The pilot phase of the course will function as a test run and will be used to evaluate and improve the course to ensure that it becomes a useful, relevant tool for financial advisers and others. Further information about the course can be found at www.sustainable-investment.eu.