CSF's Annual Flagship Course

Join a global network of environmental leaders.

Our life-changing annual course empowers participants with the language of economics and finance to help solve conservation challenges around the world.

Each year, course graduates join a network of more than 7,000 people training from over 3,000 organizations in 131 countries. Our course is for professionals at the forefront of global conservation issues, and our past alumni come from government, NGOs/CSOs, academia, the private sector, and multilateral institutions. By taking this course, participants will be connected with peers from all over the world in learning how applied economics and finance can help them to address some of today’s most pressing issues and urgent environmental challenges.

Registration is now closed our 2026 virtual course. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on future cohorts. 

What will you gain from this course?

  • An essential foundation in basic economic concepts and language.

  • Insight into the drivers of environmental problems, including market and institutional failures.

  • Tools to evaluate the costs and benefits of natural resource management approaches and development decisions, including values of ecosystem services.

  • Skills to incorporate economic incentives in order to formulate more effective strategies and policies for conservation, including sustainable finance solutions.

  • The ability to articulate environmental values in a language that communities, businesses, and governments can understand.

Details & Key Deadlines

  • Course Dates

    Join us for 10 weeks of virtual instruction from September 14th to November 20th, 2026. The total time commitment is approximately 6 hours per week, which includes participating in two 1.5 hour live sessions.

  • Tuition: $1000 USD

    Register before September 3 to join our 2026 cohort. You have the option to pay in three monthly installments, which is slightly more USD to account for added transaction fees. See below for additional discounts and promotions.

  • Virtual Format

    We will host two virtual live sessions each week on Tuesday and Thursday from 12:00-1:30pm Eastern Time (ET). Make up sessions will be hosted on Thursday night from 8:00-9:00pm ET for participants in Asia & the Pacific and those who can't attend regular sessions.

Need Support?

Complete our application for scholarship support from CSF by September 3.

If funding becomes available, we will review these applications to provide some applicants with scholarship to subsidize their course fee. Scholarship support is not guaranteed by completing this application, and you may not receive a response from our team until the submission deadline has passed.
Scholarship Deadline Closed

What do our course graduates think?

Hear from our last virtual cohort!

  • World-Class Teaching

    Our talented instructors include professors from top universities, CSF staff and experts from our partners like the Stanford Natural Capital Alliance and the Conservation Finance Alliance, all with a deep understanding of real-world conservation challenges.

  • Inclusive & Diverse

    Conservation and sustainable development practitioners from every country and background are invited to enroll. Previous training in economics is not required. Participants must be comfortable reading and speaking in English.

  • Engaging & Interactive

    The course is a dynamic combination of pre-recorded lessons, virtual discussion sessions with instructors, interactive exercises with fellow participants, and on-demand readings and other resources, all organized on our easy to navigate N4N platform.

Special Offers

Are you a CSF course graduate or CSF partner? You may be eligible to give or receive a discount! Email us at [email protected] to inquire about either of these offers.

  • Alumni Referrals

    Anyone who has previously taken a CSF course is eligible to refer a friend or colleague, granting them a unique 20% discount. To refer someone, please send us an email with their name, email address, and the CSF course you tooks and we'll take care of the rest!

  • Partner Discounts

    If you or your organization has worked with CSF in the past and plans to send participants to this course, email us to gain up to a 20% discount off the course fee. Two or more people from the same partner organization must plan to register to be eligible.

Cohort Countdown

Join us this September for a once-in-a-lifetime professional development opportunity!

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