The Sustainable Investing Certificate study package
All nine official chapters mapped, with ESG analysis, valuation, and integration worked end to end — built for a single sitting booked when you are ready. One full chapter area is free, no card required.
9
Official chapters, fully mapped
~130 hrs
Guided study plan
1
Exam — no levels to sit
Everything in the Certificate package
Chapter-mapped study notes
Every reading mapped to its chapter in the official CFA Institute syllabus, with the integration techniques worked to the changed number — the forecast, the discount rate, the portfolio weight.
9 chapters, fully mapped
Adaptive question bank
Standalone items and item sets in the format the exam uses, weighted the way the syllabus weights the chapters, each explaining why the wrong answers are wrong.
Weighted to the syllabus
Full-length mock exams
Timed mocks in the real 2h20m computer-based shape, so you know your pace before you book a sitting rather than after.
2 mocks · real format
Spaced-repetition flashcards
The frameworks, disclosure regimes, and metric definitions that have to be automatic — TCFD, SFDR, ISSB, scope 1/2/3 — scheduled to your forgetting curve.
Keyed to your gaps
Performance analytics
Readiness by chapter against the ≈70% reported pass standard, so the decision to book your on-demand sitting rests on data rather than nerve.
Readiness by chapter
Integration worked end to end
The heaviest-weighted chapters are taught through to the changed number, not left at the definition — because the exam tests whether you can apply an ESG factor, not name it.
On every reading
Certificate topic reference
Review this topic reference together with its source and applicable exam cycle.
- ESG Analysis, Valuation & Integration25%
- ESG-Integrated Portfolio Construction & Mgmt15%
- Overview of ESG Investing & the ESG Market11%
- Environmental Factors11%
- Social Factors11%
- Governance Factors11%
- Engagement & Stewardship8%
- Investment Mandates, Analytics & Client Reporting8%
CFA Institute · Certificate in ESG Investing curriculum — official syllabus weight ranges (band midpoints)
Certificate curriculum
9 chapters · 100+ hrs
- ESG Analysis, Valuation & Integration25%
- ESG-Integrated Portfolio Construction & Mgmt15%
- Overview of ESG Investing & the ESG Market11%
- Environmental Factors11%
- Social Factors11%
- Governance Factors11%
- Engagement & Stewardship8.0%
- Investment Mandates, Analytics & Client Reporting8.0%
Source: CFA Institute · Certificate in ESG Investing curriculum — official syllabus weight ranges (band midpoints)
A worked study example
Total emissions and carbon intensity answer different questions
Total financed emissions scale with position size, so a large holding in a clean company can outweigh a small holding in a dirty one.1 Carbon intensity — emissions per unit of revenue or per dollar invested — normalises size away and compares efficiency instead.
The consequence is practical: a portfolio can cut total emissions simply by shrinking, while its intensity does not move at all.2 That is why an absolute decarbonisation target and an intensity target can both be met by portfolios that look nothing alike — and why a mandate has to say which one it means.3
- 1
Where the item usually turns
Scale versus efficiency. Most wrong answers pick the metric that sounds greener rather than the one the question is actually asking about.
- 2
The failure mode, stated
Shrinking the book cuts absolute emissions without improving anything. Naming that is what a good answer does.
- 3
Carried into the mandate chapter
The same distinction reappears in client reporting and mandate construction — we link it rather than teach it twice.
Choose your Certificate plan
Same source-cited content in every tier — pick how far you want the support to go. Move up anytime and pay only the difference.
Certificate questions, answered
About the ESG Investing charterIs the Sustainable Investing Certificate the same as the Certificate in ESG Investing?
Yes. CFA Institute renamed the Certificate in ESG Investing to the Sustainable Investing Certificate — same syllabus, same credential, continuous history. Our materials are written against the current curriculum edition.
How is the exam structured?
A single computer-based exam of roughly 100 items — standalone questions and item sets — over 2 hours 20 minutes, sat on demand at test centres and online worldwide. There are no levels.
What score do I need?
CFA Institute does not publish a fixed cut score. The widely reported passing standard sits around 70%, and our readiness model is calibrated to that band rather than to a number we invented.
Do I need to be a CFA charterholder first?
No. The certificate has no prerequisites. It is popular with investment, product, risk, and client-facing professionals adding a formal ESG credential, and with CFA and FRM candidates broadening into sustainable finance.
How long should I allow?
CFA Institute suggests around 130 hours. Most candidates prepare over two to four months around a full-time role and book once the readiness signal says they are there.
Try a topic before you decide.
One full Certificate topic is free — notes, questions, and the tools — so you can judge the material against how you actually study before paying anything.
Start free