UNEP FI at COP 15: Giving a voice to the financial services sector

20 November, 2009

If climate change is to be tackled effectively, all scenarios going forward suggest that business, private finance and the capital markets will have to play a major role in the battle against climate change - much more concerted action will be needed than in the past. Against this background, UNEP FI’s presence at the COP 15 gives a voice to private lenders, insurers and investors on what is required from the future climate change regime in order to better mobilise the skills, entrepreneurship and products of the private sector in what remains one the greatest global challenges of the 21st century. It is about clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of the industry and discussing how these can be effectively embedded into the international climate change regime of the future.

Join your peers in speaking up on climate change at COP15

UNEP Finance Initiative 2009 Global Roundtable

22 October, 2009

Publications launched and featured at the Global Roundtable

	The global state of sustainable insurance – Understanding and integrating environmental, social and governance factors in insurance A ground-breaking report on the insurance industry and global sustainability challenges
	The materiality of climate change - How finance copes with the ticking clock A comprehensive review of key financial analyst and academic research on climate change
	The Natural Value Initiative: The Ecosystem Services Benchmark A tool enabling institutional investors to understand the impacts and dependency of their investments on biodiversity and ecosystem services
	The Natural Value Initiative: Linking Shareholder and Natural Value Results achieved in the first application of the Ecosystem Services Benchmark tool on the global Food, Beverage and Tobacco sectors Executive summary
	Chief Liquidity Series - Issue 1: Agribusiness (geography- and sector-specific water materiality briefings for financial institutions) Concrete guidance at the local level - The questions financial institutions should ask to better handle water challenges facing agribusiness actors throughout the world
	Catalysing low carbon growth in developing economies - Public Finance Mechanisms to scale up private sector investment in climate solutions How Public Finance Mechanisms can be employed to scale up private sector investment in climate solutions - Press release
	Soft launch: And yet it moves - Success stories and drivers of CDM project development in sub-Saharan Africa This study shows that despite adverse circumstances it is possible, through the CDM, to combine financial with environmental returns in a region that is desperately in need of both
	Featured publications
	Fiduciary responsibility - Legal and practical aspects of integrating ESG issues into institutional investment A legal roadmap for fiduciaries to operationalise their commitment to responsible investment
	Financing a Global Deal on Climate Change This study focuses on 6 mechanisms, instruments and approaches identified by UNEP FI as promising in mobilizing the skills and resources of the banking, investment and insurance sectors behind an effective, efficient and equitable global deal on climate change at COP15 in Copenhagen.
	Investor Statement on the Urgent Need for a Global Agreement on Climate Change The world’s capital markets speak up on the urgent need for a real deal on climate change
	Executive Summary of the Energy Efficiency Executive Summary from the Climate Change Working Group's survey report on lending activities and policy issues
	Narrowing the gap A survey of the barriers and drivers to commercial microfinance in Africa
	0.618... Issue 9 Financing change, Changing finance
	UNEP FI 2008 Overview Round-up and analysis of UNEP FI publications and activities in 2008

UNEP FI Insurance Working Group unveils ground-breaking report on the global state of sustainable insurance

22 October, 2009

Cape Town/Geneva/Nairobi
The UNEP FI Insurance Working Group has launched a ground-breaking report exploring the complex relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, core insurance operations, and the insurance industry.

The landmark report, with forewords from UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner, and HRH The Prince of Wales, is titled, “The global state of sustainable insurance – Understanding and integrating environmental, social and governance factors in insurance”. It is based on a pioneering global survey conducted this year by the UNEP FI Insurance Working Group, comprising the world’s leading insurers, and its Academic Working Group, comprising renowned academic institutions from North America and Europe, on the understanding and integration of ESG factors in insurance underwriting and product development.

The comprehensive survey covered a wide spectrum of ESG factors as they relate to the insurance business, primarily—climate change, biodiversity loss & ecosystem degradation, water management, pollution, financial inclusion, human rights, emerging manmade health risks, ageing populations, regulations, disclosure, ethics & principles, and alignment of interests.

The survey obtained respondents from 60 territories worldwide—from Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, and Latin America & the Caribbean—with over 3,800 years of cumulative insurance experience, and generated nearly 2,700 pages of data.

Read more
View the launch document
View the official UNEP press release

STERN LAUNCHES INVESTOR STATEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE, backed by USD 13 trillion of assets under management: the world’s capital markets speak up on the urgent need for a real deal.

16 September, 2009

New York City, United States

The times when the private sector was against determined action on climate change are over.

181 leading investors and financial institutions responsible for the fiduciary management of USD 13 trillion – the backbone of the global economic system - have today unveiled a Statement on the Urgent Need for a Global Agreement on Climate Change, to be agreed on in Copenhagen this year at the UN climate change conference (COP 15 of the UNFCCC).

Endorsed by developed and developing country investors, this landmark Statement specifies the elements that the upcoming climate change deal must feature so as to unlock institutional investment and finance sector skills - at the needed scale - into the development of a low-carbon and climate-change resilient global economy. Central to the Statement is the science-based demand for a global target for emission reductions of 50-85% by 2050, and developed country emission reductions targets of 80-95% by 2050.

More details available here.

• View the Statement
• View the Press Release