CFA’s decision to drop ‘ESG’ from course titles sparks debate

The CFA Institute is preparing to ditch the term ‘ESG’  from its course names.

The non-profit, which provides financial education to investment professionals, announced it will rename its ‘Certificate in ESG Investing’ to ‘Sustainable Investment Certificate’ on 8 April.

“Since the certificate first launched, the concept of ESG investing has evolved and has, at times, had varied meanings in different markets,” the CFA Institute said.

“The term ‘sustainable investing’ now more accurately captures the broader, long-term impact and investing goals that the certificate aims to support.”

More than 61,500 people have registered for the Certificate in ESG Investing since it launched in 2019, and everyone who completed the 100-hour course was sent an email this week notifying them of the changes.

They were told “nothing about [their] accomplishment will change” and the curriculum of the course will remain the same, “covering the wide variety of factors within each of the environmental, social and governance areas of ESG investing”.

The move has sparked debate on LinkedIn, with many arguing it’s actually a response to the current backlash against the term ‘ESG’ in the US.

Matthew Sekol, a sustainability expert at Microsoft, said: “Sustainable investing is not the same as ESG investing. Literally ESG is a broader term beyond the environment that has been in pursuit of the [sic] long-term goals since 2004.”

James Phare, the chief executive officer of sustainable fintech house Neural Alpha, who was one of the recipients of CFA’s letter, said it was a “sign of the times”.

“I guess that ‘ESG investing’ is no longer a permitted phrase,” he said, going on to address the current clampdown on language associated with environment and social progress in the US, under president Donald Trump.

A spokesperson for the CFA Institute told IPE the name change “better reflects the certificate’s commitment to equipping professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to meet clients’ goals in terms of the holistic framework of sustainable investing”.

“We have been considering this change for some time and made the decision last year,” she added. “The term sustainability resonates better with all of our customers globally.”

The CFA Institute is not the only entity to back away from the expression. In 2023, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink announced he was dropping “the word ESG” from his vocabulary because it had been “weaponised by the far-left and the far-right”.

Last year, AXA’s CEO, Thomas Buberl, told the Wall Street Journal he “used the abbreviation ESG” during meetings with asset managers and companies and “people taught me not to use that word”.

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