Online pre-study modules
Before the programme begins you will be expected to complete some online pre-study modules which are delivered through The Hub, Imperial College Business School’s virtual learning environment.
These modules will be available to students who have accepted an offer of admission from July onwards and are designed to give you a basic knowledge of areas that will be covered later in the programme, as well as covering topics such as plagiarism awareness.
Autumn term
The programme comprises core modules from a range of subject areas. Taught over three academic terms, you will benefit from a balance between teaching and learning through a mix of lectures, seminars, external speakers, discussions group exercises and case studies.
This module will show how accounting is necessary both for organisational finance and management, and to quantify environmental impacts and carbon emissions. It will address the technical aspects of management accounting practices, which support the effective definition and delivery of strategic objectives. Budgets and balanced scorecards will be shown as examples of organisation-wide control systems. The valuation of natural assets through environmental accounting, as well as the measurement, calculation, reporting and auditing of carbon, will also be addressed.
This module will provide you with a basic understanding of the main financial market issues relating to climate change and cover the latest financial market developments relating to climate change. Climate finance is a fast-moving field, and the module will endeavour to expose you to the latest advances. It will cover climate related financial risk, sustainable asset management, climate change risk for financial institutions, and central bank supervision. It will examine physical, transition, and legal risks that financial institutions are increasingly exposed to. The module will combine lectures, guest lectures by practitioners, and case studies. The topics covered are among others the pricing of climate change risk, the role of climate risk disclosures, climate stress tests, net zero aligned portfolio construction, financial regulation, monetary policy, government regulation and technical change in renewable energy.
The module will provide students with a solid foundation in financial theory, also introducing them to the main issues related to financial decision-making and investment practice. The module will include the basic principles of corporate finance, financial markets, and the interaction between the two.
Students will learn about risk and return, diversification and portfolio theory. Concepts such as the cost of capital will be introduced, as well as its relation to valuing financial instruments such as stocks and bonds.
Mathematics and statistics are integral to business, accounting, economics and climate change science. You will study the principles and techniques, developing a structural analytical framework that will enable you to organise and interpret business data. Data analysis software, including geographical information systems (GIS) will also be introduced.
You will come away from this module understanding the scientific basis of, and the need for action on, climate change. It shows how numerical modelling is used to provide quantitative scenarios for future environmental change. Using a combination of data analysis and modelling, this module covers the greenhouse effect, atmospheric and ocean dynamics, historical climate change, and natural versus anthropogenic climate variability.
Spring term
Business Economics, Climate Change and the Environment- The aim of this module is to introduce economic concepts of practical value in business life. For example, marginal costs, sunk costs and elasticities make up an increasing part of everyday business life. Interactions between the firm and the market, and the economics of innovation, will also be explored as they each affect business performance. Macroeconomics, and its forces, will also be considered as it is essential to business planning.
Adaptation is a pervasive theme of the climate change discourse at every level of governance. You will learn about the evolution of adaptation concepts, adaptation opportunities and responses, the limits to adaptation, maladaptation and disaster risk management. You will also learn about tangible action in terms of engineering and technology, ecosystem-based, institutional or social interventions.
Utilising the world-class expertise from across Imperial College London, in this module you will learn about climate change mitigation strategies. Relevant technological strategies and national climate change mitigation plans from some of the world’s major emitters of greenhouse gases will be analysed and discussed. You will acquire the knowledge and tools to devise and understand effective and cost-effective strategies for mitigating climate change on global, sectorial and local scales.
Summer term
The December 2015 Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris reminds us of the complexity of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) process and climate negotiations. This module will provide an understanding for how climate change legislation is formed and the extent to which governance is then required. We will analyse how climate policies are formed, implemented and regulated. With reference to greenhouse emission targets, the module will use case studies from a variety of industries to assess how business responds to climate legislation.
This module will first provide an overall review and estimates of global climate finance requirements based on a range of sources going from global estimates to national, sectoral and project levels. The module looks at different types of climate mitigation and adaptation projects to understand how they address specific climate challenges. Looking at the range of financing instruments including both traditional and innovative instruments for large and small projects. The module will include a review of financing sources, both private and public, the project cycle and complementary activities to financing such as policy advice and technical assistance.
The aim of the module is to explore how energy companies are responding to the need to provide secure, affordable, supplies of energy while minimising its environmental impact. It will emphasise the role of technology in expanding the options available to us, and the way in which technological features of different energy sectors affect their business models and economic performance.
In this module, students will work in small teams to develop an innovative cleantech business proposition. These are defined as innovations of products and services that avoid or diminish the adverse environmental effects of human activity. The students will be guided through the stages that take a nascent idea and an untested team to the point where the team has a well-formed cleantech idea that can be pitched to an investor or sponsor.
Their innovations will address the challenges and opportunities of climate change. They will learn by doing. They will learn how to collaborate to bring ideas to life, how to develop and test business models that deliver their innovation, how to structure their business plan and to pitch that plan effectively.
Imperial College Business School reserves the right to alter modules whenever they need to be amended or improved. Faculty may also change as and when required.
"I have really liked Mitigating Climate Change for its detailed view of the diverse challenges and nuances of climate change mitigation. It really makes you think about the future and the challenges ahead. It also looks at the different tools available to meet these challenges. It is taught by Dr Joeri Rogelj, who has been the lead author for several IPCC reports and has been recently included by Reuters in their list of the world’s top climate scientists."
