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 Training
  Corporate Ecoefficiency for Financial Institutions E-Learning
12-30 April, 2010
Language: Spanish
 
     
 
Environmental & Social Risk Analysis E-Learning Programme

15-5 February, 2010
Language: Spanish
1-19 March, 2010
Language: English
 
     
  Renewable Energy Insurance Training Kit
17 March, 2009
UNEP DTIE Energy Branch - E-Learning Course
 
     
 Events
  UNEP FI and PRI joint webinar: Outcomes and implications of the historic UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen
28 January, 2010
Webinar
 
     
  From Cape Town to Copenhagen - UNEP FI brings the finance sector perspective to the decisive Climate Change Summit (COP 15)
7-18 December, 2009
Copenhagen, Denmark
 
     
  UNEP FI 2009 Global Roundtable: Financing Change, Changing Finance
22-23 October, 2009
Cape Town, South Africa
 
     
  » All Events  

 

Collaborations
  Link to UNEP FI's parent divisionDivision of Technology, Industry, and Economics  
 
Link to PRI Website
 
Link to GRI Website
 
 

Outstanding Contribution to ESG
 
     

 

Identifying the climate change data needs of the financial services sector - Invitation to participate in global survey.

5 February, 2010

A current survey, undertaken jointly by UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the German Sustainable Business Institute (SBI) with the support of the Federal Government of Germany, targets financial institution professionals and aims to determine:

  • how and to what extent are financial institutions of different kinds - lenders, investors and insurers - already affected by climate change and how will their exposure develop in the future?
  • what are the information needs of the financial services sector with regards to the physical impacts of climate change?
  • how well are financial institutions already equipped with the climate change information needed and where are gaps?

Download the questionnaire from here.

 

World’s largest investors urge prompt action on climate change policies

14 January, 2010

New York City, NY: The world’s largest investors released a statement calling on the U.S. and other governments to quickly adopt strong national climate policies that will establish a stable investment climate and thus spur low-carbon investments to reduce emissions causing climate change. At December’s Copenhagen Climate Change Summit it was estimated that private-sector investors will need to finance more than 85 percent of the global transition to a low-carbon economy.

The Investor Statement on Catalyzing Investment in a Low-Carbon Economy calls for rapid action on carbon emission limits, energy efficiency, renewable energy, financing mechanisms and other policies. The statement was endorsed by four groups representing more than 190 investors with more than US$ 13 trillion of assets – Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI).

 

UNEP FI and PRI joint webinar: Outcomes and implications of the historic UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

6 January, 2010

This webinar brings together a panel of UNEP Finance Initiative, UN PRI and IIGCC (Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change) signatories to discuss the implications of Copenhagen for investors and for the finance sector. The webinar provides an update on the following fundamental issues:

  • The backbone of any global climate change agreement: emission targets by developed and mitigation action by developing countries
  • The future of the flexible mechanisms, carbon markets and the new role of avoiding deforestation
  • New roles and markets for institutional investors and insurers under the future international climate change regime

The webinar is open to UNEP Finance Initiative, UN PRI and IIGCC Signatories only!

More information.

 

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

7 December, 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.

Watch how UNEP FI enables a dialogue between finance professionals and senior climate change negotiators:


Video: Global investors state urgent need for a global agreement on climate change
(6:21 minutes - ClimateTalks.tv)


Join your peers in speaking up on climate change at COP15

 

UNEP FI launches "Owner-Tenant Engagement in Responsible Property Investing" report

3 December, 2009

Successful Responsible Property Investment strategies often depend on owner-tenant cooperation. This report presents several stories from leading property organizations that are committed to sustainability and responsible investing on innovative ways to promote better cooperation between owners and tenants.

Read the report.

 

UNEP Finance Initiative 2009 Global Roundtable

22 October, 2009

     

Session presentations are available on some of the session webpages. Audio for each Plenary session is also available. You may obtain a copy of the audio of the other sessions by contacting the Secretariat. (View sessions through links on the Programme page.)

The first ever UNEP FI Global Roundtable to take place in Africa was a great success with over 450 participants travelling from across the world to Cape Town where the city hosted its first "Green Week". The event saw a mixture of bankers, insurers, investors, academia and government officials discuss the latest ideas and challenges in the sustainability agenda. Vibrant discussions were also had around the event's theme topics, "Financing change, Changing finance", in light of the financial crisis and with the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference, COP 15, taking place in Copenhagen in December 2009. UNEP FI's global network of regional Task Forces and partner organizations attended in large numbers as over 200 of participants from abroad brought their informed perspectives exploring regional and national developments.

For further information on the event, please contact: roundtable [at] unepfi.org

View list of publications launched and featured at the Global Roundtable.

 

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 report
View the official UNEP press release

 

 

Featured Publications
  PDF 2010 Investor Statement on Catalyzing Investment in a Low-Carbon Economy
(230 KB | 7 pages)
 
    
  World’s largest investors urge prompt action on climate change policies.
Press release
 
     
  PDF Owner-Tenant Engagement in Responsible Property Investing
(3.1 MB | 28 pages)
 
    
  Examples of property owner-tenant engagement activities to promote Responsible Property Investment  
     
  PDF 0.618... - Issue 9
(2.3 MB | 20 pages)
 
    
  Financing change, Changing finance  
     
  PDF Soft launch: And yet it moves - Success stories and drivers of CDM project development in sub-Saharan Africa
(470 KB | 50 pages)
 
    
  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  
     
  PDF Catalysing low carbon growth in developing economies - Public Finance Mechanisms to scale up private sector investment in climate solutions
(1.5 MB | 28 pages)
 
    
  How Public Finance Mechanisms can be employed to scale up private sector investment in climate solutions
Case Study Analysis
Press release
 
     
  PDF The Natural Value Initiative: Linking Shareholder and Natural Value
(3.1 MB | 78 pages)
 
    
  Results achieved in the first application of the Ecosystem Services Benchmark tool on the global Food, Beverage and Tobacco sectors
Executive summary
 
     
  PDF Chief Liquidity Series - Issue 1: Agribusiness (geography- and sector-specific water materiality briefings for financial institutions)
(5.4 MB | 72 pages)
 
    
  Concrete guidance at the local level - The questions financial institutions should ask to better handle water challenges facing agribusiness actors throughout the world  
     
  PDF The Natural Value Initiative: The Ecosystem Services Benchmark
(2.6 MB | 40 pages)
 
    
  A tool enabling institutional investors to understand the impacts and dependency of their investments on biodiversity and ecosystem services  
     
  PDF The materiality of climate change - How finance copes with the ticking clock
(3.6 MB | 136 pages)
 
    
  A comprehensive review of key financial analyst and academic research on climate change
Executive summary
 
     
  PDF The global state of sustainable insurance – Understanding and integrating environmental, social and governance factors in insurance
(5.4 MB | 90 pages)
 
    
  A ground-breaking report on the insurance industry and global sustainability challenges
Press release
 
     
  PDF Fiduciary responsibility – Legal and practical aspects of integrating environmental, social and governance issues into institutional investment
(2.5 MB | 92 pages)
 
    
  A legal roadmap for fiduciaries to operationalise their commitment to responsible investment
Media coverage
Press release
 
     
  MoreAll Publications