The Sustainable Finance Executive Programme (SFEP) at the University of Oxford celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2026.
Since launching in 2016, the programme has trained more than 280 executives from over 100 countries, drawn from across the intersection of finance and sustainability: financial institutions, the civil service, supervisory authorities, regulatory agencies, central banks, NGOs, and philanthropy.
Past participants have joined from organisations including AXA, HSBC, Deloitte, Bank of England, Bank of China, Deutsche Bank, UNDP, European Commission, M&G, Hitachi, Shell, IFC, Nordea, ClientEarth, and WWF. With around 40 delegates per cohort and more than 50% female representation, the programme has built a genuinely global and diverse community.
Delivered over five days at the University of Oxford
The programme is delivered over five days at the University of Oxford, with teaching, accommodation, and meals hosted in Oxford’s colleges. Participants learn from leading Oxford faculty and expert practitioners, critically examining topics including climate risk, nature-based solutions, carbon markets, spatial finance, transition finance and planning, active ownership, stranded assets, and green taxonomies.
Dr Ben Caldecott, Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group and Lombard Odier Associate Professor of Sustainable Finance at the University of Oxford, said: “Over the past decade, SFEP has equipped hundreds of senior leaders with the knowledge and networks to drive meaningful change in finance and investment. As the sustainability challenges facing the financial system grow more complex, the programme’s combination of rigorous research and practical application has never been more relevant.”
Jessica Leigh, Head of Capacity Building and Partnerships at the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, said: “We are proud of the global community we have built. Participants join from every continent and from very different professional backgrounds, and the diversity of perspective is one of the programme’s greatest strengths. The feedback is consistently strong: participants value the calibre of speakers and the interactive format, but they also learn a great deal from each other and from how fellow leaders are implementing sustainable finance in practice.”
What participants say
“My biggest learning from the programme was that I can be a catalyst for sustainable change and the transition and how I can implement that change back in my organization.”
“It was an important opportunity to learn about the current state of the industry and how important open dialogue and collaboration between industry, academia, and government is to achieve the goal of net-zero.”
“An amazing learning experience, perfectly balanced between theory, practice and networking.”
“There is no time to waste as far as climate action goes. Governments, policy makers, finance professionals, real economy companies all need to work together to save our planet.”
The next cohorts run 6 to 10 July and 28 September to 2 October 2026.