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International Sustainable Finance (LAWS90144)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
About this subject
Contact information
February
Teaching staff:
Jan Job de Vries Robbé (Subject Coordinator)
For current student enquiries, contact the Law School Academic Support Office
Overview
Availability(Quotas apply) | February |
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Fees | Look up fees |
The Challenge of a Decade, if not our Generation. Can sustainable finance be the answer to climate change, poverty and inequality? The purpose of this subject is to immerse students in sustainable finance in international practice, from sustainable lending, green bonds, renewable energy, innovative structured products and impact investing. Across these markets, key legal concepts, structural features and documentation are covered in detail. By engaging in-depth, through term sheet negotiations, and pitches the students jointly develop the skills to assess, prioritise, challenge and negotiate these transactions.
The subject coordinator draws on his own experience in global sustainable finance, and invites experts from international law firms and organisations, to help you become ‘more than a lawyer’.
Indicative list of principal topics:
- The Sustainable Development Goals, the evolving regulatory framework of sustainable finance, and implementation by banks, development institutions, funds and corporates in international practice
- Understanding the structural features of sustainable lending, including sustainability-linked loans (SLLs) as well as inclusive finance, along with the relevant principles and contentious issues in negotiation
- Thoroughly analysing and comparing the green, blue, orange, social and sustainable bond structures and terms, including social impact bonds, bond linked to sustainable performance, as well as their challenges in practice
- Negotiating and mastering the negotiation of key terms of renewable energy project finance
- The implementation of impact investing in fund management and private equity, in day to day practice
- How structured finance can further sustainable goals, for instance through refugee finance, vaccine bonds, drought risk transfer and microfinance securitisation
- The litigation challenges in sustainable finance for both investors, issuers and ‘green’ rating agencies, for instance the risk of mis-selling ‘green’ products, and how to address this and other risks in documentation as well as through strategic means.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject will:
- Have a detailed understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in theory and legal practice
- Have learnt to apply key legal concepts across a variety of legal areas, from lending, derivatives, capital markets, project finance, structured finance and funds/equity investment
- Have specialised knowledge of the documentation of sustainable finance in these areas
- Master the skills required to analyse and compare sustainable transactions – know where to look for, prioritise, assess the merits and the legal risks, and thus
- Be able to critically assess the effectiveness of a sustainable finance product
- Have developed a thorough understanding of the (soft and hard) regulatory framework underpinning sustainable finance globally for sovereigns, banks and corporates, and the legal, litigation and reputation risk in this highly dynamic market
- Build on key negotiation and presentation skills for application in practice.
Last updated: 8 November 2024