Yale University, New Haven, Conn., will host its “National Low-Carbon Portfolio Case Competition” at the Yale School of Management's Evans Hall on Nov. 14.
The competition, coordinated with the International Center for Finance at the Yale School of Management, will challenge teams of MBA and graduate students from across the U.S. to develop a low-carbon strategy for an institutional client of Commonfund, a Wilton, Conn.-based investment firm with $25 billion in assets under management for pension funds, endowments and foundations.
“We're trying to help institutional investors answer the question of how to build a road map to reduce the carbon intensity of their portfolios,” said Logan Yonavjak, a joint degree candidate at Yale and co-director of the event.
The event's organizers are anticipating 12 to 15 student teams will participate, she said.
An initial panel of nine judges, followed by a separate panel of five finalist judges, will evaluate each team's submission and presentation. The judges' assessment will focus on each team's analysis and integration of carbon emissions metrics, as well as the expected performance of their resulting portfolio.
The winning team will receive a $10,000 cash prize.
The event will also feature discussion panels covering topics that include: how endowments are approaching the low-carbon investing issue, how investment advisers and managers are responding, and metrics to measure carbon intensity.
Yale plans to hold a conference event addressing environmental, social and governance issues every year.
