Financing and Deploying Clean Energy Certificate Program

The Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY) developed this 10-month, admissions-based online certificate for working professionals who seek to accelerate an equitable transition to a clean economy.  

The key objective of this program is to grow a powerful network of clean energy experts at the forefront of our energy transition, and help professionals understand the interplay of the financial, technological, and socioeconomic drivers in financing and deploying clean energy. 

• Understand how policy supports or hinders the scaling up of clean energy
• Understand how current energy models work and examine the technological and economic challenges to the clean energy transition
• Understand the development process, investment requirements, and economic risks and returns associated with clean energy, and practice skills in financial modeling
• Examine what innovative business models, policy, and technological solutions can be used to overcome these obstacles
• Build new relationships, interact with experts and develop your own peer community on Yale’s Clean Energy Collaborative social networking platform. 

Learn more about the curriculum here.

This program is designed for working professionals who are passionate about clean energy and want to advance their careers by gaining new skills in finance, technology, and policy, and mitigate climate change.

This may include individuals from:

• The finance community across sectors and scales, including capital providers, foundations, or endowment teams focused on climate and/or energy;
• Policymaking organizations at the federal, state, regional, or local levels;
• The power market, including utilities, project developers, clean energy generation, storage, efficiency systems manufacturers, designers, or operators; and
• Nonprofit organizations involved in the clean economy transition, including advocacy and research groups.

Some individuals with more experience in one component of the curriculum, but gaps in others, may benefit from this program, as well as individuals seeking to develop a more comprehensive approach to the scaling of clean energy deployment.

Learn more about applications and admissions here.

This entirely online certificate program consists of five weeks of self-paced foundational coursework with an option to test out of the requirement, a one-week online orientation event, and four eight-week core courses delivered at the same weekly pace to the whole FDCE cohort. The core courses are where most of the teaching and learning take place and are a mix of synchronous and asynchronous activities.  

You can complete the entire certificate program virtually. However, we know you love meeting in person, so we encourage you to schedule your own local meetups with the Yale and FDCE community, or attend events being held on campus. Events that are open to FDCE participants and alum are shared on the Community Platform. The Community Platform is a private social networking platform all participants are given access to, for life, in order to unleash the creativity and innovation of the phenomenal group of FDCE and Yale alums!   

This is a 100% virtual program. FDCE participants access online course material through an online platform called Canvas. This "virtual classroom" allows participants to learn theory and concepts from faculty members and professionals from the clean energy industry through watching recordings and engaging in activities and discussions on the platform.

Participants also connect synchronously with peers and the teaching team using Zoom video-conferencing. There is a required, once per week live session during core courses, Thursdays at 12:00 p.m. (noon) ET.

FDCE participants can also choose to attend optional office hours with faculty members and/or teaching assistants, as well as a number of events hosted at Yale (virtually and in-person!).

FDCE participants are also given lifetime access to the Yale Clean Energy Collaborative's Community Platform--a private social networking platform where members can connect at any time with clean energy experts not only from one's FDCE cohort, but also across the Yale community at large.

Online delivery with few required synchronous elements, but a variety of optional live events and option in-person events, allow users to access the best that Yale has to offer while retaining the freedom to watch lectures and work on assignments and readings on their own schedule during the week.

Participants are able to:

• Access weekly online course materials at their convenience, balancing coursework each week with personal commitments and clean energy careers;
• Connect with people in real time weekly to listen to presentations from Yale faculty or industry experts or discuss ideas with and receive feedback from instructors, peers, and experts;
• Expand their networks by interacting with experts and build their own peer community online.

During the core course, every Monday, we release a new module, or week's worth, of materials. Participants spend about five hours a week on the core courses. This weekly time commitment generally involves:

You can learn more about a typical week's workload here.

The program is designed and delivered by faculty from the Yale School of Management, the Yale School of the Environment, and Yale College, experts from the Yale alumni networks, and from CBEY’s industry partners. All serve as either lecturers, interviewees, or advisors.

Partners include practitioners from the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance, the Connecticut Green Bank, the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, Covenant Solar, or the Coalition for Green Capital to name just a few.

CBEY's approach is to promote a blend of diverse perspectives from academia and industry for participants to paint a complete picture of the current state of the clean energy landscape and where it is going.

Learn more about faculty, lecturers, and guest experts.

The FDCE program generally begins in July with self-paced foundational coursework to learn how to succeed in the program and get familiar with foundational concepts of energy.  Early in the program, we also host a 100% Online Orientation with mandatory midday sessions (11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. ET). Participants can elect to participate in a suite of optional onboarding, orientation and team-building activities with the rest of their cohort during other times that week. 

There are one week breaks between each of the four Core Courses and an extended winter break midway through the program.

The FDCE program ends in May each year.

Read more about important dates here, including specific dates for the upcoming cycle.

You can learn more about this certificate program by watching our informational webinar. 

During the previously recording informational webinar (see below) we shared insights into the program, the curriculum, and the benefits of being part of this cohort of working professionals.  A new informational webinar is held each year at the start of the application period. To register for this and other admissions events, please check out the Important Dates & Events page. 

You can download the FDCE brochure and get on the mailing list for this program by filling out the form below. Refer to this website often for updates, insights from participants, and dates for informational webinars!