LEARNING PATH
GARP Sustainability and Climate Risk Masterclass
Financial institutions have a crucial role to play in achieving net zero, as their primary impact on climate change is through the activities they finance, and most have already committed to reducing their Scope 3 emissions.
Is this programme right for you?
The Masterclass is our comprehensive GARP SCR exam preparation course, designed for professionals who want complete coverage of all learning objectives, from fundamentals through to advanced concepts. You'll benefit from this programme if you:
Pass the GARP SCR Exam with Confidence
Chapter 01
Foundations of Climate Change: What Is Climate Change?
Chapter details
Try before you buy: Explore the first chapter for free, no card required.
The Challenge
Many professionals lack a solid scientific foundation to understand climate change mechanisms, making it difficult to assess risks accurately or communicate effectively with stakeholders.
Without understanding the difference between weather and climate, the greenhouse effect, or emissions scenarios, professionals cannot properly evaluate the credibility of climate commitments or the severity of physical risks.
Without understanding the difference between weather and climate, the greenhouse effect, or emissions scenarios, professionals cannot properly evaluate the credibility of climate commitments or the severity of physical risks.
How This Chapter Addresses It
This foundational module establishes the scientific basis of climate change using evidence from multiple independent data sources.
You'll learn how the Earth's energy balance works, understand the role of greenhouse gases, and explore both natural and anthropogenic climate drivers.
The chapter covers critical concepts including carbon budgets, emissions scenarios, and the practical implications of adaptation, mitigation, and geo-engineering approaches.
You'll learn how the Earth's energy balance works, understand the role of greenhouse gases, and explore both natural and anthropogenic climate drivers.
The chapter covers critical concepts including carbon budgets, emissions scenarios, and the practical implications of adaptation, mitigation, and geo-engineering approaches.
Chapter 02
Sustainability
Chapter details
19 learning activities
The Challenge
The sustainability landscape is crowded with competing frameworks, acronyms, and reporting standards. Organisations struggle to understand how ESG, corporate responsibility, and sustainable development intersect with climate risk.
The proliferation of greenwashing further complicates distinguishing genuine sustainability efforts from superficial claims, creating reputational and regulatory risks.
The proliferation of greenwashing further complicates distinguishing genuine sustainability efforts from superficial claims, creating reputational and regulatory risks.
How This Chapter Addresses It
This module clarifies the relationship between sustainability, ESG, and climate change whilst exploring how governments, corporations, and financial institutions implement sustainability practices.
You'll understand ecosystem services and natural capital, learn to identify greenwashing tactics, and master key reporting frameworks including GRI, ISSB, SASB, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
You'll understand ecosystem services and natural capital, learn to identify greenwashing tactics, and master key reporting frameworks including GRI, ISSB, SASB, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Chapter 03
Climate Change Risk
Chapter details
30 minutes
The Challenge
Climate risk manifests in complex, interconnected ways that traditional risk management frameworks struggle to capture.
Physical risks from extreme weather events and chronic environmental changes threaten assets and operations, whilst transition risks from policy changes, technological disruption, and market shifts can strand valuable assets overnight.
Understanding how these risks translate into financial impacts across different sectors remains a critical gap for many organisations.
Physical risks from extreme weather events and chronic environmental changes threaten assets and operations, whilst transition risks from policy changes, technological disruption, and market shifts can strand valuable assets overnight.
Understanding how these risks translate into financial impacts across different sectors remains a critical gap for many organisations.
How This Chapter Addresses It
This module introduces the two main categories of climate risk and explains how hazards, exposure, and vulnerability interact to create financial consequences.
You'll explore stranded asset dynamics across sectors, learn to differentiate acute and chronic hazards, and understand how climate risks transmit through supply chains and financial systems.
You'll explore stranded asset dynamics across sectors, learn to differentiate acute and chronic hazards, and understand how climate risks transmit through supply chains and financial systems.
Chapter 04
Sustainability and Climate Policy, Culture and Governance
Chapter details
53 minutes
The Challenge
Climate policy operates across multiple jurisdictions with varying levels of ambition and implementation.
International agreements, national regulations, sector-specific policies, and private-sector frameworks create a complex web that organisations must navigate.
Central banks are increasingly incorporating climate considerations into financial supervision, but approaches vary significantly across regions, creating compliance challenges for global institutions.
International agreements, national regulations, sector-specific policies, and private-sector frameworks create a complex web that organisations must navigate.
Central banks are increasingly incorporating climate considerations into financial supervision, but approaches vary significantly across regions, creating compliance challenges for global institutions.
How This Chapter Addresses It
This policy-focused module traces the evolution of international climate agreements from Kyoto through Paris and Glasgow.
You'll understand how carbon pricing mechanisms work, learn about sector-specific policies for transportation and power generation, and master the complexities of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions accounting.
The chapter covers green taxonomies, central bank supervision practices, and major private-sector frameworks including NGFS, whilst also addressing emerging nature-related risks and biodiversity concerns.
You'll understand how carbon pricing mechanisms work, learn about sector-specific policies for transportation and power generation, and master the complexities of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions accounting.
The chapter covers green taxonomies, central bank supervision practices, and major private-sector frameworks including NGFS, whilst also addressing emerging nature-related risks and biodiversity concerns.
Chapter 05
Green and Sustainable Finance: Markets and Instruments
Chapter details
1 hours 4 minutes
The Challenge
The sustainable finance market has grown explosively, but this growth brings challenges.
Greenwashing concerns plague green bond markets, sustainability-linked instruments lack standardisation, and investors struggle to evaluate the credibility of ESG funds.
Understanding the distinctions between green bonds, sustainability bonds, social bonds, and sustainability-linked instruments requires specialised knowledge that many professionals lack.
Greenwashing concerns plague green bond markets, sustainability-linked instruments lack standardisation, and investors struggle to evaluate the credibility of ESG funds.
Understanding the distinctions between green bonds, sustainability bonds, social bonds, and sustainability-linked instruments requires specialised knowledge that many professionals lack.
How This Chapter Addresses It
This market-focused module explores the full spectrum of sustainable finance instruments and their role in mobilising capital for climate solutions.
You'll understand market flows and trends, master the Green Bond Principles, learn about sustainability-linked bonds and loans, and explore how ESG integration works in practice.
The chapter covers sustainable funds, consumer-facing products, emerging taxonomies, and evolving disclosure requirements across jurisdictions.
You'll understand market flows and trends, master the Green Bond Principles, learn about sustainability-linked bonds and loans, and explore how ESG integration works in practice.
The chapter covers sustainable funds, consumer-facing products, emerging taxonomies, and evolving disclosure requirements across jurisdictions.
Chapter 06
Climate Risk Measurement and Management
Chapter details
1 hour 20 minutes
The Challenge
Quantifying climate risk requires integrating physical science projections with financial modelling in ways traditional risk frameworks were never designed to handle.
Climate risks operate over longer time horizons, involve deep uncertainty, and can trigger systemic effects that cascade through the financial system.
Organisations need practical methodologies to measure both physical and transition risks at company and portfolio levels whilst integrating these assessments into existing enterprise risk management frameworks.
Climate risks operate over longer time horizons, involve deep uncertainty, and can trigger systemic effects that cascade through the financial system.
Organisations need practical methodologies to measure both physical and transition risks at company and portfolio levels whilst integrating these assessments into existing enterprise risk management frameworks.
How This Chapter Addresses It
This technical module provides practical frameworks for measuring and managing climate risk across operational, credit, liquidity, and insurance contexts.
You'll learn how climate risk manifests as financial risk through microeconomic and macroeconomic channels, understand risk metrics for different risk types, and explore Climate Value at Risk methodologies.
The chapter covers data requirements, analytical tools, and approaches for measuring risks at both company and portfolio levels.
You'll learn how climate risk manifests as financial risk through microeconomic and macroeconomic channels, understand risk metrics for different risk types, and explore Climate Value at Risk methodologies.
The chapter covers data requirements, analytical tools, and approaches for measuring risks at both company and portfolio levels.
Chapter 07
Climate Models and Scenario Analysis
Chapter details
1 hour 16 minutes
The Challenge
Climate scenario analysis involves navigating complex technical terrain including IPCC pathways, integrated assessment models, and sector-specific decarbonisation trajectories.
Organisations must choose appropriate scenarios for their context, understand the limitations of different modelling approaches, and translate scenario outputs into actionable strategic insights.
The long time horizons and deep uncertainty inherent in climate projections make this particularly challenging for financial institutions accustomed to shorter-term risk assessments.
Organisations must choose appropriate scenarios for their context, understand the limitations of different modelling approaches, and translate scenario outputs into actionable strategic insights.
The long time horizons and deep uncertainty inherent in climate projections make this particularly challenging for financial institutions accustomed to shorter-term risk assessments.
How This Chapter Addresses It
This modelling-focused chapter demystifies climate scenario analysis by explaining how scenarios are constructed, what they reveal, and how to apply them in organisational contexts.
You'll understand IPCC Representative Concentration Pathways and Shared Socioeconomic Pathways, learn about IEA and NGFS scenarios, and explore how to assess both transition and physical risks using scenario analysis.
The chapter includes detailed use cases for both non-financial corporations and financial institutions.
You'll understand IPCC Representative Concentration Pathways and Shared Socioeconomic Pathways, learn about IEA and NGFS scenarios, and explore how to assess both transition and physical risks using scenario analysis.
The chapter includes detailed use cases for both non-financial corporations and financial institutions.
Chapter 08
Net Zero
Chapter details
1 hour
The Challenge
Net-zero commitments have proliferated across countries, cities, and corporations, but many lack credible pathways to achieve their targets.
The credibility gap between ambition and action undermines confidence in climate commitments. Organisations struggle to set science-based interim targets, understand sector-specific decarbonisation pathways, and use appropriate metrics to track progress.
The complexity of net-zero planning across different sectors creates additional challenges for implementation.
The credibility gap between ambition and action undermines confidence in climate commitments. Organisations struggle to set science-based interim targets, understand sector-specific decarbonisation pathways, and use appropriate metrics to track progress.
The complexity of net-zero planning across different sectors creates additional challenges for implementation.
How This Chapter Addresses It
This strategic chapter explains what net zero means in practice, how it connects to Paris Agreement objectives, and what constitutes a credible net-zero commitment.
You'll explore national and subnational strategies, understand sector-specific challenges and opportunities, and learn how Science Based Targets initiative validates corporate commitments.
The chapter covers interim targets, metrics for tracking progress, and the evolving net-zero disclosure landscape.
You'll explore national and subnational strategies, understand sector-specific challenges and opportunities, and learn how Science Based Targets initiative validates corporate commitments.
The chapter covers interim targets, metrics for tracking progress, and the evolving net-zero disclosure landscape.
Chapter 09
Climate and Nature Risk Assessment
Chapter details
1 hour 38 minutes
The Challenge
Conducting comprehensive climate risk assessments requires integrating multiple frameworks including TCFD, ISSB, and emerging nature-related standards.
Organisations must assess both physical and transition risks whilst considering biodiversity loss and ecosystem dependencies.
The expanding scope of risk assessment to include nature-related financial disclosures adds complexity, particularly as measurement methodologies for biodiversity and water risks remain less developed than climate metrics.
Organisations must assess both physical and transition risks whilst considering biodiversity loss and ecosystem dependencies.
The expanding scope of risk assessment to include nature-related financial disclosures adds complexity, particularly as measurement methodologies for biodiversity and water risks remain less developed than climate metrics.
How This Chapter Addresses It
This practical assessment module provides step-by-step guidance for conducting climate risk assessments aligned with international protocols.
You'll understand ISSB reporting requirements and how they build on TCFD recommendations, learn the specific steps for assessing physical and transition risks, and explore the emerging TNFD framework for nature-related risks.
You'll understand ISSB reporting requirements and how they build on TCFD recommendations, learn the specific steps for assessing physical and transition risks, and explore the emerging TNFD framework for nature-related risks.
Chapter 10
Transition Planning and Carbon Reporting
Chapter details
1 hour 15 minutes
The Challenge
Developing credible transition plans requires integrating strategic ambition with operational execution whilst navigating complex carbon accounting requirements.
Organisations struggle to measure financed emissions, set appropriate boundaries for Scope 3 reporting, and ensure data quality across diverse portfolios.
The proliferation of transition planning frameworks creates confusion about best practices, whilst regulatory requirements continue to evolve rapidly across jurisdictions.
Organisations struggle to measure financed emissions, set appropriate boundaries for Scope 3 reporting, and ensure data quality across diverse portfolios.
The proliferation of transition planning frameworks creates confusion about best practices, whilst regulatory requirements continue to evolve rapidly across jurisdictions.
How This Chapter Addresses It
This implementation-focused chapter provides practical frameworks for developing transition plans and conducting carbon reporting aligned with international standards.
You'll understand the three key principles for good transition planning, learn to set SBTi net-zero targets, and master the five core elements of credible transition plans.
The chapter covers GHG accounting methodologies, financed emissions calculations using PCAF standards, and the multiple drivers of transition plan adoption beyond disclosure requirements.
You'll understand the three key principles for good transition planning, learn to set SBTi net-zero targets, and master the five core elements of credible transition plans.
The chapter covers GHG accounting methodologies, financed emissions calculations using PCAF standards, and the multiple drivers of transition plan adoption beyond disclosure requirements.
Bonus: SCR Revision Programme
Even after mastering all ten chapters of the GARP SCR syllabus, many candidates struggle to synthesise their knowledge under exam conditions. Without realistic practice under timed conditions, even well-prepared candidates can underperform on the actual GARP SCR exam, failing to demonstrate their true knowledge level.
Our comprehensive SCR Exam Revision Programme bridges the critical gap between knowledge acquisition and exam success. You will gain access to 2 hours of expert-led video lessons that walk you through 31 carefully selected GARP SCR exam questions, our extensive question bank, and 3 complete SCR mock tests that simulate actual GARP exam conditions.
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