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2026/2027  BA-BPOLV2601U  The Macrofinance of the Green Transition

English Title
The Macrofinance of the Green Transition

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Bachelor
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Autumn, Autumn
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Min. participants 30
Max. participants 60
Study board
Study Board for Global Relations
Programme BSc in International Business and Politics
Course coordinator
  • Cornel Ban - Department of Organization (IOA)
Main academic disciplines
  • Political Science
  • Economics
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 17-02-2026

Relevant links
Learning objectives
At the end of the course, the student will be able to:
  • Understand macro-financial contexts: Identify how global macroeconomic and financial conditions influence opportunities and risks for businesses engaged in the green transition.
  • Evaluate the role of policy and regulation: Analyze how fiscal measures, monetary policy, and financial regulation create both constraints and incentives for corporate investment in low-carbon technologies and markets.
  • Incorporate ecological risks into business strategy: Assess how climate risks, carbon pricing, and stranded assets affect firm competitiveness, financing costs, and long-term growth prospects.
  • Compare international business environments: Examine how differences in the EU, US, and Chinese macro-financial strategies shape market opportunities, supply chains, and competitive dynamics for firms.
  • Develop actionable recommendations: Apply political economy and macroeconomic insights to propose strategies for businesses and investors navigating the financial and regulatory challenges of the green transition.
Course prerequisites
Macroeconomics, Microeconomics
Examination
The Macrofinance of the Green Transition:
Exam ECTS 7
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 10 pages
Assignment type Report
Release of assignment The Assignment is released in Digital Exam (DE) at exam start
Duration 2 weeks to prepare
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Autumn
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
..
Description of the exam procedure

The exam is designed to simulate the decision-making challenges faced by policymakers and corporate strategists in the context of the green transition and related macro-financial issues. At the beginning of the course, students are presented with a task list composed of realistic scenarios, such as drafting a policy brief for a finance ministry on carbon taxation, preparing a strategy memo for a multinational firm on green financing, or advising a central bank on climate-related financial risks. These tasks combine analytical rigor with applied problem-solving, requiring students to integrate course theories, empirical evidence, and critical judgment.

For the final exam, the professor will select one task from this list that all students must address. This ensures comparability across answers while maintaining the relevance of real-world application. Students will be expected to demonstrate their ability to frame the problem clearly, identify and weigh alternative courses of action, and provide a reasoned, evidence-based recommendation. The format emphasizes clarity of argument, integration of macro-financial perspectives, and the capacity to connect theory with practice. By structuring the exam around a pre-announced pool of tasks, students can prepare deeply and strategically, while still being tested on adaptability, synthesis, and applied reasoning under exam conditions.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

This course examines the macro-financial foundations of the green transition, situating climate change within political economy and macroeconomics. The shift away from fossil fuels raises profound questions about how states, central banks, and financial markets can mobilize and allocate capital for decarbonization while safeguarding stability and growth. Students will explore how ecological constraints disrupt conventional macroeconomic assumptions about growth, inflation, and investment, and how new forms of state–market relations are emerging in response.

A central theme is the contested politics of financing. The course analyzes the rise of the “derisking state” and the Wall Street Consensus, where public institutions are reconfigured to guarantee returns for private investors in green infrastructure. This approach is contrasted with more dirigiste strategies such as those seen in China and elsewhere in which governments directly mobilize credit creation and industrial policy to steer structural transformation. The tension between these models highlights different pathways through which macro-financial regimes can support or hinder the ecological transition.

The course introduces students to debates over fiscal space, monetary policy, and macroprudential regulation in the Anthropocene. Key topics include carbon pricing, stranded assets, transition risks, financing green industrial policy, and the distributive consequences of green finance. Empirical cases from Europe, the United States, Brazil, India and China illustrate how diverse macro-financial architectures condition opportunities for green industrialization and reveal the influence of financial lobbies and fossil incumbents.

By integrating ecological realities into the study of macroeconomics and political economy, the course equips students to critically assess institutional choices, financial architectures, and power struggles that will shape the future of the global green transition.
Research-based teaching
CBS’ programmes and teaching are research-based. The following types of research-based knowledge and research-like activities are included in this course:
Research-based knowledge
  • Classic and basic theory
  • New theory
  • Teacher’s own research
  • Methodology
Research-like activities
  • Development of research questions
  • Data collection
  • Analysis
  • Discussion, critical reflection, modelling
  • Peer review including Peer-to-peer
  • Students conduct independent research-like activities under supervision
Description of the teaching methods
Case-based teaching
Comparative cases (EU, US, China) and corporate case studies (multinationals, energy firms, financial institutions) illustrate how different macro-financial architectures create opportunities and risks for business strategy.

Simulations and scenario exercises
Role-play or scenario planning workshops where students act as central bankers, corporate strategists, or policymakers facing shocks such as abrupt carbon pricing or a green bond market crash. These highlight trade-offs and negotiation dynamics.

Debate and structured controversy
Students prepare and defend positions (e.g. “Should central banks buy green bonds?” or “Are carbon markets better than public investment?”). This fosters critical engagement with competing schools of thought.

Applied projects and policy labs
Teams develop short strategy or policy briefs that apply macro-financial insights to a chosen sector (renewables, transport, finance). Deliverables are concise, professional-style outputs rather than academic essays.

Guest speakers and practitioner input
Inviting experts from finance ministries, central banks, or green investment funds connects theory with practice and shows students the career relevance of these debates.
Feedback during the teaching period
Peer review workshops
Students exchange draft memos or briefs in small groups, using a structured rubric. Each student gives and receives feedback, which encourages active learning and reflection without requiring you to mark every draft.

Live debriefs after tasks
After a simulation, debate, or in-class case exercise, the class reflects together on what worked and what didn’t. You guide the discussion, but the students surface the feedback themselves.

Model answer walk-throughs
After a short assignment or mini-exam, you present a model answer (or several strong anonymized student answers). Students compare their own work against it and identify gaps.

Collective feedback summaries
Instead of line-by-line comments, you review a sample of submissions and then give a general “what went well / what to improve” presentation to the whole class.

Feedback circles
In groups of 4–5, students present their takeaways from an assignment, while peers offer constructive input. The group then synthesizes two key lessons to share with the class.

Self-assessment checklists
Provide students with a rubric aligned to learning objectives. Before submitting, they score themselves and discuss with peers, which makes feedback part of the learning process rather than only your responsibility.
Student workload
Lectures 38 hours
Reading 96 hours
Exam 24 hours
Expected literature

 

Clapp, Jennifer, and Eric Helleiner. "Reflections on the IPE of green finance." Competition & Change (2025): 10245294251324780.

 

Kedward, Katie, Daniela Gabor, and Josh Ryan-Collins. "Carrots with (out) sticks: credit policy and the limits of green central banking." Review of International Political Economy 31.5 (2024): 1593-1617.

 

van’t Klooster, Jens. "Technocratic Keynesianism: a paradigm shift without legislative change." New political economy 27.5 (2022): 771-787.

 

Gabor, Daniela, and Benjamin Braun. "Green macrofinancial regimes." Review of international political economy 32.3 (2025): 542-568.

 

Helleiner, Eric, Monica DiLeo, and Jens van't Klooster. "Financial technocrats as competitive regime creators: The founding and design of the Network for Greening the Financial System." Regulation & Governance 19.3 (2025): 901-916.

 

Li, Xuan, and Cornel Ban. "Financing technological innovation in China: neo-developmental financial statecraft through government guidance funds." Review of International Political Economy (2025): 1-31.

 

Kim, Sung-Young, Hao Tan, and Elizabeth Thurbon. "Developmental Environmentalism: Green Growth in East Asia." OUP (2025).
Last updated on 17-02-2026