Climate Leadership Certification
Elevate your impact with the Diligent Institute Climate Leadership Certification to prepare for climate risk, strategy and disclosure.
EnrollAbout the program
Good governance is hard, and the challenges are growing. Board members and executive leaders must oversee a wide array of risks and opportunities – with climate being added to the extensive list of enterprise-wide risks to consider in long-term strategic decision making.
The Diligent Institute Climate Leadership Certificate program equips board members, executives and modern leaders with the knowledge to effectively oversee climate risk and lead with confidence in the boardroom.
Access four required and five elective courses covering the most pertinent informaion to enable you to meet your fiduciary responsibilities around climate and sustainability oversight. Watch thoughtful panel discussions, read unique content developed with Kirkland & Ellis, participate in interactive exercises and discussion groups and put your klearning to the test with quizes and a final exam. The program is expected to take approximately 17 hours to complete.
Benefits of enrolling
Enroll your board and management team to develop climate and sustainability literacy and competency across the organization.
Regulatory requirements
Get ready for impending regulation from the SEC requiring climate-related disclosures, while CSRD and others already require thorough reporting.
Skills gap
Having a strong climate strategy is important. But there is a lack of confidence in boards’ level of preparedness to handle climate issues. Develop key expertise and competencies for effective oversight.
Stakeholder demands
Address stakeholder demands and get ready for proxy season to disclose your further education.
Accreditation
Designed to NASBA standards, keep your skills up to date and earn up to 23 hours CLE credits and 9 CPE credits.
Unrivalled expertise
Access an exclusive global curriculum developed with industry experts including Glass Lewis and the ESG & Impact Practice at Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
Enterprise risk management
Enhance enterprise risk management of climate and sustainability by learning techniques for effective governance and oversight.
Proud to receive a Silver Stevie award.
Learning objectives
At the conclusion of the program, you will be able to:
- Identify climate risk to the balance sheet and identify solutions to potential challenges.
- Select how to prepare for increased climate scrutiny by shareholders and other stakeholders.
- Recognize approaches to identification, oversight, and management of climate risk, including metric selection and risk-based due diligence strategies.
- Distinguish the key voluntary reporting initiatives and how they relate to each other and emerging regulatory requirement.
- Identify the key pending, current, and proposed climate disclosure regulations around the world.
- Recognize goals, key outputs, and challenges of climate-related scenario analysisIdentify key pending, current, and proposed climate disclosure regulations in different regions.
Speakers
Learn from over 40 renowned subject matter experts who deliver impactful courses on topics such as connecting climate to the balance sheet, how climate connects to the board’s fiduciary duty and structuring oversight of climate risk.
Required course details
The program is available as a self-paced e-learning experience and includes four required and two elective courses with video panel sessions featuring subject matter and industry experts, curated readings, interactive exercises and online networking among participants.
This course provides a high-level overview of the opportunities and risks posed to business by climate change and explains why climate has become a central focus for corporate leaders in terms of strategy and risk oversight.
At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:
- Advise on the benefits for company leadership overseeing climate governance, risk management, and strategy
- Describe how climate change can impact financial returns
- Understand the current regulatory landscape surrounding climate-related disclosure requirements
- Link climate risk to the balance sheet and identify solutions to potential challenges
Understand the history of climate-related fiduciary duty litigation, examine the duties of loyalty and care under Delaware law and discuss recent landmark cases on director liability. Leverage learnings to identify strategies for informed decision-making.
At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:
- Articulate how the duties of loyalty and care under Delaware, English, European, and Australian laws could apply to climate change and may evolve over time
- Outline the history of climate-related fiduciary duty litigation in the US and UK, with a brief discussion of the European context
- Use concepts provided to prepare for increased climate scrutiny by shareholders and other stakeholders
Explore the role of the board and senior management in overseeing climate risk. The course includes an overview of the TCFD framework, climate governance and strategy, risk management, metrics and targets and a brief overview of climate risk modeling.
At the conclusion of this session, you will be able to:
- Describe the main components of the TCFD framework
- Articulate the goals, key outputs, and challenges of climate-related scenario analysis
- Describe approaches to identification, oversight, and management of climate risk, including metric selection and risk-based due diligence strategies
Identify the key current, pending and proposed climate disclosure regulations in the US, UK and EU, highlighting key moments in climate regulation history. Explore the voluntary reporting initiatives, how they relate to each other and the priorities of investor coalitions and climate campaigns.
At the conclusion of this session, you will be able to:
- Identify the key pending, current, and proposed climate disclosure requirements in the US, UK, EU and Australia
- List the key voluntary reporting initiatives and how they relate to each other
- Articulate priorities of key investor coalitions and campaigns related to climate change
Elective course details
Access all elective courses and complete two in order to graduate from the Climate Leadership Certification.
This course provides a grounding in the basics of greenhouse gas accounting, including standards, associated terminology, and third-party validation, as well as regulatory/enforcement and other considerations for making climate commitments.
At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:
- List the different types of climate commitments and associated terminology, and describe the third parties that validate them
- Identify key US, EU, and UK regulatory and enforcement risks in different types of climate commitments and develop risk mitigation strategies
- Develop questions you can ask your own organization around its greenhouse gas measurements, reporting, and audit/assurance
Review different strategies for incentivizing climate action, including aligning executive compensation to climate commitments, connecting climate incentives to broader corporate strategy and financial performance. Review and understand the risks and benefits in each strategy.
At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:
- Describe different strategies for aligning compensation plans with climate objectives
- Identify different ways companies are incentivizing climate action
- Consider the best ways to connect climate incentives to corporate strategy
Dive deeper into the key types of current climate litigation claims, the ways they come about and related trends. Discuss risk mitigation strategies for each type of claim and execute a response to a sample climate litigation scenario.
At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:
- Appreciate the dynamic nature of climate litigation risk faced by companies across different industry sectors, and the fact that litigation risk is increasing in the US and globally
- Articulate the key types of climate-related litigation faced by companies, the strategic purposes of such litigation (which may seek behavioral change rather than monetary damages), and examples of jurisdictions and forums in which such claims have been brought to date
- Identify potential strategies and risk management practices to reduce climate litigation risk
Learn about key carbon markets and explore differences between voluntary and mandatory carbon markets. Discover the risks inherent in the voluntary markets, key objectives of the Task Force on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TFSVCM) and how the social cost of carbon impacts business.
At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:
- Articulate the difference between voluntary and mandatory carbon markets
- List the key mandatory markets in the US, UK, EU, and China
- Articulate the risks inherent in the voluntary markets
- Outline the key trends influencing carbon markets today
This course, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Green Building Council, provides an overview of the goals of green building, ESG, and sustainable finance as market transformation. At the conclusion of the course you will be able to identify considerations for green building practice, identify opportunities for green building to contribute to high performance and review current and emerging issues including decarbonization, electrification, health promotion, and equity.
At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:
- Understand the goals of green building, ESG, and sustainable finance as market transformation tools;
- Identify considerations for green building practice
- Distinguish the purposes of different ESG reporting frameworks and identify opportunities for green building to contribute to higher performance
- Review current and emerging issues, including decarbonization, electrification, health promotion, and equity
Graduation
Share your Climate Leadership Certification upon graduation.
A digital badge of honor
Proudly display your certification badge, showcasing your commitment to climate and sustainability oversight excellence on LinkedIn.
Network with peers
Continue to connect with like-minded professionals from diverse industries, fostering collaboration and shared best practices.
Prestigious certification
Upon successful completion, receive a Diligent Institute Climate Leadership certificate to elevate your professional profile.
Proxy statement language
Share your further education achievement in your next proxy statement or disclosure with sample language provided.
Continuing professional education accreditation details
The Diligent Institute Climate Leadership Certification is a unique e-learning program that prepares business leaders to oversee climate risk and create sustainable growth strategies for their companies. With increased pressure from regulators, investors and shareholders, corporate leaders are seeking education on ESG issues. Current and rising directors seek a competitive edge on climate risk & strategy – both for themselves and their companies.
CEU Institute is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website.
- Instructional delivery: QAS self-study
- CPE credit hour: 9.0
- Field of study: Specialized knowledge
- Prerequisites: None
- Advanced preparation: None
- Program level: Intermediate
- Refund/cancellation policy: Provide written notice to Diligent at certifications@diligent.com. If notice of cancellation in accordance with this section is received before access to the Diligent Institute Certification is granted, program fees will be refunded to you. You can view our cancellation and refund policy here.
- Complaint resolution policy: Provide written details to Diligent at certifications@diligent.com.
Meet the graduates
Congratulations to those who have successfully completed the Diligent Climate Leadership Certificate program! Meet the certified leaders below.
Group programs & bespoke packages
Pricing
Diligent Institute is delighted to offer discounted pricing for groups of five or more. In addition, we offer bespoke training for boards and management teams. Contact us to share your requirements and learn more about the discounted certification packages available.
Thank you for your interest!
Someone from our team will be in touch to provide you with more information on Diligent Institute and see how we can help you.
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