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Financing and Deploying Clean Energy Certificate Program

Program Overview

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. 

Graphic outline of the FDCE courses which are described individually below

Goals

  • 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

Learn more about the curriculum here.

Who Should Apply?

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.

Format

Yale Library in Fall

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!   

Virtual Classroom

FDCE participants access online course material through an online platform (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 into class sessions using video-conferencing (Zoom) once per week on Thursdays at noon EST.

The FDCE cohort may choose to attend optional office hours with faculty members and/or teaching assistants as well as a number of events hosted at Yale for the Yale clean energy community.

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.

This flexible, light-touch approach, allows 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.

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.

Workload Expectations

Participants spend about five hours a week on the core courses. This weekly time commitment generally involves:

A typical workload for one week include 1-2 hours of video, 2-3 hours of individual or group work, and 1 hour of participating in live sessions

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

Instructors and Advisors

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.

Calendar

The 2024/2025 FDCE cohort will matriculate in July 2024 and begin with self-paced foundational coursework to learn how to succeed in the program and get familiar with foundational concepts of energy. 

Online Orientation will be held from Monday, July 15 to Friday, July 19, 2024. Attendance is mandatory during mid-day sessions (11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. EST) and 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.

The first Core Course of the Fall semester will begin on August 12, 2024. The FDCE program will end on May 12, 2025.

Read more about important dates here.

Informational Webinar

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. You can watch the recording below. For up-to-date information, please refer to this website.  

Download the Brochure

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!  

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