Impact and Sustainable Investing

In the four course online Impact and Sustainable Investing certificate program you’ll build foundational and practical expertise in impact investing for equity and sustainability.

As global challenges mount, investors and corporations are increasingly striving to align their products and processes with sustainability and social justice goals. Meanwhile, local communities and advocates for social and racial justice and sustainability are developing innovative solutions that require capital investment. There is a growing need for professionals who have the vision, knowledge, and tools to harness the vast potential of the capital marketplace to complement strategies for positive change.

The certificate is designed for finance professionals with interest and/or experience in impact investment, professionals in philanthropy, including program officers, CEOs and CIOs, municipal and other government agency employees exploring potential to use impact investments within programming, community economic development practitioners, social entrepreneurs and members of community organizations who want to understand the role impact investment can play in their business growth and community organizers that recognize the opportunity to build power and resilience through an enhanced understanding of impact capital.

Our Impact and Sustainable Investing certificate combines the expertise of our Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP) and Economics departments and is aligned with our core values of justice and sustainability. Unlike other ESG or Impact Investing certificates that are situated exclusively within business schools, this program draws upon an interdisciplinary mix of finance, economics, community development, and governmental and environmental planning. Students develop a holistic, cross-functional understanding of impact investing frameworks and strategies within the private and public sectors. As a student in the program, you will be exposed to analytical, qualitative, and quantitative tools to assess the full range of social, environmental, and economic impacts of investments and to distinguish between greenwashing and more transformative strategies. 

Currently, Tufts is the only program that offers this specific values-driven interdisciplinary approach to the practice of impact and sustainable investing.

Program Outcomes

The certificate curriculum provides foundational knowledge and practical applications in sustainability and impact investing with a core focus on:

• ESG and Impact: Understand how to analyze the multitude of data points coming out of ESG ratings to ensure investments are aligned with values.
• Capital Gaps: Transform communities and sectors through accelerating and increasing impact-first investments aligned with sustainability, social and racial equity.
• Impact Measurement: Approach investment decisions with a rigorous and critical lens to efficiently evaluate based on sustainability and equity perspectives.
• Community Capital: Experience practical and real-world applications of scalable strategies through evaluation of case studies, hands-on projects, and detailed, financial development of new models for immediate deployment.

Program graduates can expect go on to roles focusing on sustainability, financial oversight, or investment responsibilities in private or public companies, as well as nonprofit and government organizations.

Required Courses

The following four courses are required to complete the certificate. Please visit UEP's website to learn more. 

• UEP 0185: Impact Investing for Catalytic Impact: Filling Capital Gaps
• UEP 0186: Community-Based Investing – Systems & Practice
• UEP 0184: Fundamentals of ESG & Impact Investing
• UEP 0187: Blended Return: Impact Investing Measurement Tools and Processes