Now nine years into his role at SMU, Associate Professor of Finance and Co-Director of Singapore Green Finance Centre (SGFC) Liang Hao looks back at various profiles of students he has taught for nearly a decade. He was among the first to start teaching the topic of sustainable finance. As market demand for sustainable finance grew, so did SMU’s offerings. This August, SMU will welcome its first batch of full-time and part-time Master of Sustainability graduate students. All SMU undergraduates matriculating in 2024 will also have to complete at least one sustainability course as a graduation requirement. SGFC, launched in 2020, is Singapore’s first research institute dedicated to green finance research and talent development. In April, SGFC announced four courses in support of the Sustainable Finance Jobs Transformation Map unveiled by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Institute of Banking and Finance. Assoc Prof Liang is the instructor of the Sustainable Investment Management Course. He expressed hope that courses like his can deter “competence-washing”.
