Climate

Change Academy of Risk and Opportunity

Jan Dash, PhD, Founder
Climate.CARO@gmail.com

Climate Change Risk and Opportunity Officer (CCROO)

Competency Guideline Recommendations
The mission of the Climate Change Academy of Risk and Opportunity, Climate CARO,
is to help galvanize business climate risk evaluation and climate action by catalyzing a
new interdisciplinary profession, Climate Change Risk and Opportunity Officer,
CCROO. Climate CARO proposes high standards for CCROO competencies, taught by
universities using their own faculty and/or by practitioners. The standards contain
graduate MS-level competency in three core topic areas: I - Risk Management, II -
Climate Change Basics, III - Climate Change Risk Management & Opportunity - a
baseline “job-description”; details on next page. A MS program could include nine
hours/week for 2 semesters. Many universities offer programs that - with enhancements –
could train CCROOs (see resource/gap worksheet). A practical approach would be to
train risk managers in climate issues and climate experts in risk issues, plus the
interdisciplinary core topic area III. Climate CARO (a non-profit) does not offer training
or courses. A talk describing Climate CARO is here: https://youtu.be/HmvH2o3-6_o

CORE TOPIC AREAS

I. Risk Management
• Corporate Finance and Risk Managementi
• Quantitative Financial Risk Managementii

II. Climate Change - Basics

• The Physical Science Basis of Climate Changeiii

• Impacts of Climate Change, Vulnerabilities, Adaptationiv
• Mitigation of Climate Changev

III. Climate Change Risk Management & Opportunity

• Climate Change, Business and Finance, Economics, Policyvi

• Economic / Climate Modelsvii, Financingviii, Scenario Analysesix, Tail Riskx,
Uncertaintiesxi, Dataxii, Toolsxiii, Systemsxiv
• Organizational Action (TCFDxv, CERESxvi, UNxvii , Academicxviii , Politicalxix…)
• Sectorsxx, Cross-discipline Communicationxxi
• Intergenerational Equityxxii , Sustainable Development Goalsxxiii

File = Draft Guidelines for CCROO competencies v9.docx; 10/25/20 9:48 AM

1
 SUGGESTED CCROO COMPETENCIES LIST
i
Corporate Finance and Risk Management: Real world corporate case studies, Strategic planning, Project finance,
Debt, Credit, Operational Risk, Supply chains, Real options … - MS level
ii
Quantitative Financial Risk Management: Markets, Statistics, Regulations, VAR, Financial model risk,
Counterparty risk, Systemic risk, Crises, Trends, Portfolios… - MS level
iii
The Physical Science Basis of Climate Change: Data, Theory, Models; Emissions (cumulative, current, future, per-
capita, country) … Tech. Summary IPCC v1; https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/technical-summary/
iv
Impacts of Climate Change, Vulnerabilities, Adaptation: Time scales, Meaning of “1.5 and 2 degrees”, Physical
risk, Transition risk, Health, Security, Economic and political instabilities, Food, Water, Sea level rise, Migration,
Supply chain impacts, Biodiversity; Resilience strategies, Geography, Climate attribution; Case studies … - Tech.
Summary IPCC v2; https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg2/technical-summary/
v
Mitigation of Climate Change: Carbon budget, Drawdown, Action portfolios, Electricity, Grid, Renewables,
Fission/Fusion, Fossil fuels, Efficiency, Regulation, Policies, C pricing, Agriculture, Diet, Industry, Transport,
Buildings, Heat pumps, New tech and innovation, CCS, Divestment, Stranded assets, Circular economy; Case studies,
Sectors… - Tech. Summary v3; https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg3/technical-summary/
vi
Business and Finance, Economics, Policy: Survey and Case studies – World Scientific Climate Change
Encyclopedia level; https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/11526#t=aboutBook
vii
Economic / Climate Models: Integrated Assessment Models including climate damage, Regional vs. global climate
modeling, Social Cost of Carbon, Discount-rate models, Nonlinearities …
viii
Financing: Scaling and types of financing, Project finance case studies, Green bonds, Institutions, Instruments …
ix
Scenario Analyses: Nature of climate scenarios, Bayesian (e.g. 2 degrees at 2100), Specific scenarios (IPCC,
Sky…), Climate VAR, Scenarios with mitigation, Climate stress tests, Path dependencies, Nonlinearities …
x
Tail Risk: Extreme events (past, projected), Case studies (Sandy, French heat wave…), Confidence levels…
xi
Uncertainties: Climate sensitivities, Human behavior, Model parameters, Precautionary principle …
xii
Data: GHG inventories, Temperature, Food, Water, Forests, Land cover, Data gaps and spikes, AI, Sources …
xiii
Tools: EnRoads and CRoads (MIT), Stock price sensitivities, Web-based tools …
xiv
Systems: IT systems – management/problems, Monte-Carlo long-term simulations, Speed and accuracy …
xv
TCFD: TCFD, Climate risk disclosure guidelines, Business participation, Possible regulation, Climate law …
xvi
CERES: CERES, Investor pressure, Impact investing, Reputation risk, Contagion …
xvii
UN: UNFCCC, COP conferences, Paris Agreement, NDCs, Enhanced ambition, Tech transfer, Financing …
xviii
Academic: Sustainability/risk MS programs, Practitioner courses, ACCO, Webinars, Conferences …
xix
Political: US (Federal, State), Europe, UK, China, India, Russia, Brazil, Asia, M.East: (Past, Current, Future) …
xx
Sectors: Sector-dependent climate risks and opportunities
xxi
Communication: Priorities, Media, Complexity, Psychology, Science/risk denial, Planning, Negotiation …
xxii
Intergenerational Equity: “Leaving a livable world”, Youth climate movement, Urgency and ethics …
xxiii
The Sustainable Development Goals: SDGs, ESGs, Business sustainability, Climate and Social/Environmental
justice, Economic development, Population, COP24 just transition, Faith organizations, NGOs, Indigenous peoples …