The University Senate approved a new Master of Science program in climate finance, a collaboration between the Climate School and Business School. The proposal passed at the University Senate’s plenary meeting on March 22 with 63 votes in favor, zero opposed, and three abstentions.

Based at the Climate School, the collaborative program will offer students an intensive finance curriculum, integrating pre-existing courses between the two schools. The one-year program would require a minimum of 39 credits: 12 credits in the climate core, nine credits in the finance core, a three-credit capstone, and 15 credits in elective courses that integrate knowledge between climate and finance.

“My students are keenly interested in the finance dimension,” Lisa Dale, co-director for the Master of Arts program in climate and society, said at the plenary meeting. “There’s tremendous expertise on this at the Business School, and the opportunity to join and connect these two areas through this collaboration, I think, is really exciting.”

The curriculum intends to combine training in climate studies with financial management practices, with students taking courses in “climate science, adaptation and mitigation strategies, climate justice, climate modeling, remote-sensing technologies, environmental and energy economics, externality pricing, carbon accounting, and legal and regulatory frameworks, as well as in financial analysis, capital structure, transactions design, portfolio management, scenario analysis, and stakeholder value integration,” the proposal reads.

“It meets also a very profound workforce need,” Dale said. “There’s really a limit now of the expertise on this particular nexus of how we fund climate change, how we galvanize investment toward these critical climate solutions.”

The program’s proposal reads that graduates can expect to find employment in roles such as business analysts, investment analysts, climate change consultants, sustainability consultants, and policy advisors. The proposal lists potential recruiters as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, asset owners, Microsoft, Amazon, and Boston Consulting Group.

“The partnership between the two schools may not be reflected in the title of the degree but, you know, it is very much appreciated by recruiters,” Costis Maglaras, dean of the Business School, said at the plenary meeting. “A third of our graduating students go into consulting careers, and the highest growth area in consulting jobs right now is climate. And that’s gonna be sort of consistent over the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years.”

The program received letters of support from Columbia Business School faculty, Shih-Fu Chang, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Keren Yarhi-Milo, dean of the School of International and Public Affairs. The program will be offered starting in the fall of 2025.

Designed in tandem with the Business School, the degree will be professionally-oriented and one of many programs offered by the Climate School expected to attract more talent. The Climate School expects to hire a new faculty member to direct the program.

“Columbia is at the forefront of climate education, and this propels us even further. It continues to attract the best talent both in the faculty and the student space,” Minhas Wasaya, Business ’24, vice chair of the student affairs committee and a member of the executive committee, said at the plenary meeting. “I think it is something that will not only help us as an institution stay at the forefront of climate, but it provides us an opportunity to be leaders and to be models for other institutions.”