2025 Economics and Finance for Environmental Leadership

Dates
-
Theme
Economic Tools
Economic Incentives
Conservation Finance
Location (address)
Stanford University
Region & Country
Southeast Asia
Asia
South Asia
Africa
Latin America and the Caribbean
South America
North America
Asia-Pacific
Status
Completed
Duration
1 week 5 days
Course Type
Two-Week International Course

This course concluded in August 2025. Read more about our 2025 course and cohort in our course report here. 

Watch this video to hear direct reflections from our participants.

Read this article to learn more about the 2025 Cohort. 

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Our life-changing annual course empowers participants with practical tools to innovate and solve conservation challenges around the world. 

Back by popular demand, this year we’re returning to in-person training at Stanford University from August 18-29 2025. This 2-week course will be run by CSF’s Numbers for Nature Training Institute in partnership with Stanford’s Natural Capital Project and the Conservation Finance Alliance. 

This introductory course provides conservation professionals with a solid foundation in economic theory and practical tools to apply their new skills to the most pressing conservation challenges in their regions. The 2025 cohort will learn to use economic language and theory to build nature into financial decision-making and communicate effectively with stakeholders across regions, cultures, and backgrounds.

This course is made up of seven modules: 

  1. Economic Fundamentals
  2. Natural Resource Economics
  3. Behavioral Economics
  4. Environmental Valuation
  5. Cost-Benefit Analysis
  6. Environmental Policy
  7. Conservation Finance

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Learn more about CSF's Training Program at www.numbersfornature.org.

 

Participants will gain
- Insight into the institutional and market drivers of environmental problems.
- Tools to evaluate the costs and benefits of both development and conservation decisions,
including values of ecosystem services.
- Ability to build conservation solutions that cost the least and benefit the most.
- Speak the language of bankers, developers, industry and government policy makers, and
negotiate for nature.
Who the course is for
Anyone with an interest in using economics and finance to protect nature is welcome. This course is best for people at the forefront of conservation challenges, including managers of conservation programs and protected areas, non-governmental organizations, and representatives of government agencies. Applicants from a variety of disciplines such as biology, forestry, law, anthropology, or economics are encouraged to apply. Previous training in economics is beneficial, but not essential. Applicants must be proficient in spoken and written English.
How to register

Registration closed for this course on July 18, 2025.
 

Instructor(s)
David Johnson
David Meyers
Laura Fuerte
Natalia Sanin Acevedo
Partners
Application deadline
Photos