Your UNEP FI Community

18 May, 2012

UNEP FI’s insurance role bolstered with new insurance sector members

International insurers Sun Life Financials and SulAmérica joined UNEP FI in May.

With the launch of UNEP FI’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance a month away, the arrival of the new members bolsters the partnership’s role as a sustainability leader among the global insurance community.

Sun Life Financial Inc. is a Toronto-based international financial services company known primarily as a life insurance company, while SulAmérica is Brazil’s third largest insurance company, with 6.7 million customers.

The UNEP FI Principles for Sustainable Insurance, which will be launched on the eve of Rio+20, are a transformational set of voluntary, global principles to manage environmental, social, and governance in the insurance business.

More information here.

UNEP FI Training

16 May, 2012

Energy Efficiency Financing in Buildings Online Course, Spanish, 11 – 29 June 2012

The objective of the Course is to promote the transition towards a low-carbon economy, through the financing and investment in energy efficiency projects, specifically in Buildings.

The course also seeks to enhance financial institutions capacity to finance these kinds of projects, showing the potential opportunities of business in the area of energy efficiency in buildings, in order to increase investment flows in the financial sector of the region.

The course also seeks to encourage a greener outlook in it clients through energy costs reduction, green house gas emission reduction and/or the investment in renewable energies, and thus it will enhance the FI corporate image and the FI client reputation.

We are offering promotional fees as this is a new course. So, take advantage of our reduced fees!

More information and registration here.

UNEP FI Employment

25 April, 2012

UNEP FI now taking candidacies for position of head

UNEP FI is now recruiting a new head.

The recruitment of a replacement head for UNEP FI is an open and competitive process.

Candidates with a minimum of ten years of work experience relating to finance, investment, insurance, economics, and environment are encouraged to apply. Eligible and willing candidates are encouraged to submit their candidacy until 23 June 2012.

More information here.

UNEP FI News

19 April, 2012

UNEP FI voices ideas for Rio+20 with position paper

UNEP FI has given the financial sector a voice with the unveiling of a position paper on the upcoming Rio+20 Conference in late April.

The document signed by UNEP FI’s co-Chairs Barbara Krumsiek and Richard Burrett makes a clear statement to Rio+20 country delegates on the role of the financial sector in achieving sustainable development. It offers a set of recommendations on how the international community and policy-makers can further enable and incentivise sustainable finance at Rio+20.

Rio+20, or the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, marks the 20th anniversary of the seminal 1992 Earth Summit of Rio de Janeiro.

Hundreds of delegates from the private sector, among them UNEP FI members, are expected to join the thousands more who will attend the event.

More information here.

Your UNEP FI Community

10 April, 2012

Africa’s largest insurer bags Climate Change Leadership Award with research supported by UNEP Finance Initiative

Santam, Africa’s largest non-life insurer and a member of UNEP FI, has won the 2012 Climate Change Leadership Award under the financial services category.

The Climate Change Leadership Award is the first in Africa to recognise, reward, motivate and celebrate businesses, communities, youth, schools and individuals leading the way in combating climate change.

Santam won the award due to the research study, Insurance in a Changing Risk Landscape: Local lessons from the Southern Cape of South Africa, said the jury. The study emerged from a research partnership between the Santam Group, WWF, University of Cape Town and Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, and was produced in collaboration with UNEP FI.

UNEP FI Publications

26 March, 2012

CEO Briefing on materiality now in French and Spanish

UNEP FI’s seminal CEO Briefing Demystifying Materiality is now available to French and Spanish speakers.

Initially published in 2010, the relevance of the concise publication on natural capital has not waned, with the issue forecasted to be among topics discussed at the upcoming Rio de Janeiro UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20.

UNEP FI’s Natural Capital Declaration is slated to be launched a few days before Rio+20.

Demystifying Materiality is designed to brief financial sector employees and other interested audiences on and how natural capital can be hardwired into financial products and services. It includes results from a survey among financial institutions on the financial sector’s perceived exposure to biodiversity and ecosystem services risks.

More information here.