Local universities offering green finance courses

The Lee Myung-bak administration has been pushing “green growth” policies since last year, and one area of focus has been finance.


“Green finance,” a new buzzword, refers to financial activities that support sustainable energy technologies and mitigate environmental degradation. The local market has seen the recent introduction of a large number of financial products related to such goals.

To develop green finance, the Financial Services Commission has decided to nurture young, talented minds interested in the industry. The FSC announced yesterday it would extend financial support to two universities - the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and Korea University - to operate green finance courses.

“We [the FSC] will financially support the newly chosen schools for their R&D expenses and scholarships,” said an official from the FSC.

“Each school will complete preparations for the launch of MBA programs specializing in green finance by the end of 2010.”

The FSC held a meeting of its Financial Hub Korea committee to discuss financial support for MBA programs specializing in green finance, the agency said yesterday.

An assessment board consisting of 13 members including professionals working in the finance industry and experts from academic circles evaluated a total of four schools - Korea University, Chung-Ang University, Kaist and Hanyang University - that applied for the green finance MBA programs.

The two selected schools, Kaist and Korea University, will receive financial support worth 500 million won ($440,500) and 400 million won, respectively.

The country has seen growing interest in green growth fund products, especially with a Korean consortium’s successful bid to build nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates in December.

Investors in a green growth fund operated by NH-CA Asset Management saw a rate of return as high as 7.24 percent in December.

That was in contrast to the previous three months between September and November, when the fund’s returns had remained in the negative range.

link: http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2918198