Like many good ideas at Wharton, the course Climate and Financial Markets began with a conversation. “All of this started with us shaking hands for the first time at the coffee machine,” says accounting professor Mirko Heinle, who teaches the course with business economics and public policy professor Arthur van Benthem. Seeing growing student interest in exploring the impact of climate on business, the two professors decided to team up. “At some point, we realized this topic needed different disciplines — accounting, economics, and finance — all blended together,” says van Benthem. Today, they teach most classes side by side, sharing their own expertise and debating with each other as much as with the students.

Because the field changes so quickly, the syllabus evolves alongside it while remaining organized around three enduring themes: climate risk and its impact on markets; policy and regulation; and financing the energy transition. “It’s a moving target,” van Benthem says. The following readings offer a window into the questions the professors and students tackle throughout the semester.