Events

Sustainability – Risks and Opportunities for Polish Financial Institutions

16 March, 2005 | Warsaw, Poland

On March 16, 2005 senior level representatives of the Polish financial sector came together for a half-day conference on the opportunities and risks of sustainability. The event was organised by the UNEP FI Central and Eastern European Task Force in collaboration with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

In his keynote speech Krzysztof Bielecki, CEO of Poland's largest private bank, Pekao SA, introduced the different aspects and opportunities of sustainability to his colleagues from Polish banks, investment companies, academia, consultancies and NGOs. Talks on environmental liabilities following EU Accession and the importance of environmental issues in privatisation transactions followed. EBRD and UNEP FI took the opportunity to present their programmes for the financial sector in Central and Eastern Europe. Bank Austria Creditanstalt presented their approach to environmental and social issues affecting their operations. The event closed with two talks on how environmental issues can affect company ratings as well as acquisition transactions.

With over 60 participants and a good feedback from attendees of the day, the event was a successful start of the Task Force's awareness raising programme in Central and Eastern Europe. Following the Warsaw event, the Task Force will host a series of awareness-raising conferences potentially in Russia, Kirgistan/Kazakhstan, Greece and the Baltic countries in 2005/2006.

Documents

• Agenda and Speaker Profiles (PDF: 279 KB)

Presentations

• Introduction (English) (PDF: 165 KB)
  Mark King, EBRD
• Key Note Speech: Why do Financial Institutions pay attention to environmental issues? (Polish) (PDF: 179 KB)
  Krzysztof Bielecki, Bank Pekao SA
• Summary of Environmental Legal Issues Facing Financial Institutions. Environmental Liabilities following EU Accession (Polish) (PDF: 478 KB)
  Waleria Szczuka-Skarzynska, Clifford Chance
• Case study – Polish Privatization and Environmental Issues. How environmental issues have affected privatization transactions and some lessons learned (Polish) (PDF: 445 KB)
  Piotr Syryczynski, Atkins Polska
• EBRD's experience in CEE – Environmental Risks and Opportunities (English) (PDF: 674 KB)
  Dariusz Prasek and Robert Adamczyk, EBRD
• UNEP Finance Initiative in CEE - What We Do (English) (PDF: 1.5 MB)
  Paul Clements-Hunt, UNEP Finance Initiative
• Best Practice in Sustainable Finance: The Experience of Bank Austria Creditanstalt (English) (PDF: 671 KB)
  Martin J. Frank, Bank Austria Creditanstalt
• Corporate Governance and Risk Reporting: How Can Environmental Issues Affect Company Ratings and Future Environmental Reporting Requirements (English) (PDF: 771 KB)
  Artur Tarnowski, Telekomunikacja Polska S.A.
• Managing Environmental Liabilities During Acquisitions (English) (PDF: 99 KB)
  Thomas Kolaja, CII Group