ESRA Training Programme
Social Development
Environment
Economic Development
The ESRA Online Course has welcomed participants from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Specialistas have trained professionals on more than forty online courses.
About ESRA
The online course on “Environmental and Social Risk Analysis” (ESRA) is an initiative of the Latin American Taskforce of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (LATF UNEP FI), Capacity Building International of Germany (InWent, now GIZ) and the INCAE Business School, with the support of the Ecobanking Project. Initially developed in Spanish in 2006 with the support of Bank of America, the Englishlanguage version of the course was produced in 2007, thanks to the support of FMO.
Objetive
The Environmental & Social Risk Analysis (ESRA) Online Course provides in-depth and personalised training. Tutors engage with participants online on a daily basis, providing guidance and facilitating debates. As a participant, you will be involved in a range of activities, from simulating implementation of environmental and social policies and guidelines and analysing case studies, to carrying out exercises based on your own clients’ environmental and social impacts.
The ESRA Training Programme is one of the most well-respected trainings on the topic available to practitioners around the world. Since its beginnings in 2005 it has provided a regular and increasingly diversified resource to risk managers, credit analysts and relationship managers. The ESRA Training Programme has been offered in English, French, Spanish and related trainings have also happened in other languages such as Portuguese and Japanese.
Overall, 92 ESRA Online Courses have taken place in English, French and Spanish with a total of 2,013 participants from 160 countries since 2006.

Participants per region
ESRA Training Programme
2006-2015
- North America: 4%
- Latin America: 46%
- Asia-Pasific: 7%
- Africa & Middle East: 24%
- Europe: 18%
Dates | Language | Tutors |
06 – 24 March | Spanish | Lawrence Pratt & Jenny Montes |
13 – 31 March | English | Lawrence Pratt & Melissa Makwarimba |
29 May – 16 June | English | Lawrence Pratt & Christina Wood |
5 – 23 June | Spanish | Lawrence Pratt & Gustavo Portaluppi |
14 August – 1 September | Spanish | Lawrence Pratt & Jenny Montes |
11 – 29 September | English | Lawrence Pratt & Aneta Wisniewska |
23 October – 10 November | Spanish | Lawrence Pratt & Gustavo Portaluppi |
30 October – 17 November | French | Lawrence Pratt & Ilyès Abdeljaouad |
6 – 24 November | English | Lawrence Pratt & Melissa Makwarimba |
Target Audience
Risk managers and analysts in commercial, corporate, investment and retail banking in or dealing with developing countries and emerging markets.
A limited number of places are also available for representatives from relevant stakeholder audiences including: supervisory/regulatory bodies, banking associations, government agencies, academic institutions, NGOs and civil society organisations involved in finance and sustainability issues.
Please note that places for non-financial institution representatives are limited. Courses will not address how to financially analyse or how to set up a business plan for an environmental/socially oriented project in search of funding. The courses teach participants how to include environmental and social variables in the traditional analysis made by financial analysts when making lending and/or investment decisions, whatever the nature of the project.
Contents
Each course is made up of five consecutive modules:
- Introduction to Sustainable Finance
- Identification of Environmental and Social Risks
- Categorization
- Evaluation of Environmental and Social Risks
- Administration of Environmental and Social Risks
Course contents and materials can only be accessed by participants.
Course Programme (PDF: 34KB)
Duration: Three weeks.
Time commitment: Two hours/day on average, Monday to Friday
Timetable: Flexible, participants to set their own study times
Applications: All applications should be submitted via our online form at least one week prior to the course you wish to participate in. Please consult our FAQs concerning applications.
Participant Profile | Fee |
Representatives of multinationals, multilaterals, private banks and large public FIs | 1050 USD* |
Representatives of subsidiaries non UNEP FI members, small local banks, sme/microfinance oriented entities | 890 USD* |
Signatories (Headquarter & Subsidiaries) to UNEP FI | 700 USD* |
*Please note that course fees serve exclusively to cover the costs of running the course.
Registration: All requests must be submitted using our application form for registration at least one week prior to the start of the course in which you want to participate. Please consult our list of Frequently Asked Questions about the enrollment process.