Study

This course will explore the role of finance and financial markets in monitoring, combatting, adapting to and mitigating the impact of climate change. We begin with a review of the financial effects of climate change to gain an understanding of the challenges, associated costs and potential opportunities presented by climate change, biodiversity loss, and the energy transition. Then, we will consider a range of financial market mechanisms to assess these challenges, costs and opportunities.

These financial market mechanisms include those that are market based, such as carbon pricing mechanisms; those that are voluntary, like net zero commitments; those that expand upon existing financial regulatory tools, like disclosure, safety and soundness regulation, and systemic risk regulation; those that are based on corporate governance practices, like shareholder resolutions and proxies; and those that deploy industrial policy approaches, like the Inflation Reduction Act. Students will also discuss financial market mechanisms that are explicitly anti- clean energy and anti-environmental, such as government directed reductions in support for climate solutions that focus on monitoring, combatting, adapting to and mitigating the impact of climate change. Consequences of government investment policies that favor artificial intelligence and crypto currencies will also be considered.

Fall 2025

Course Number	Course Credits	Evaluation Method	Instructor
741.01	2	Research paper, 25+ pages Oral presentation Class participation	Sarah Bloom Raskin
Canvas site: https://canvas.duke.edu/courses/66378