------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE UNEP FINANCE INITIATIVES E BULLETIN Issue 16 March 03 www.unepfi.net/ebulletin 1. UNEP FI TOKYO ROUNDTABLE UPDATE October 20 - 21, 2003 ? Tokyo, Japan EVENT OUTCOMES 2. Insuring the Uninsurable: March 20, 2003 ? Munich, Germany MEMBER SHOWCASE 3. Dresdner Bank at the Cutting Edge of Emissions Trading in Germany 4. Standard Chartered Child Centre 5. UNEP FI Welcomes Calvert Group as a New Signatory ACTIVITIES 6. The New Green House Gas (GHG) Indicator 7. Financing Sustainable Energy Directory Now Available Online EVENT WIRE 8. First European Conference on Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) 22-23 May, 2003 ? Milan, Italy NEWS 9. Anger at Corporate Responsibility Index 10. NGOs Call on Banks Not to Fund Large Dam and Smelter Project in Iceland 11. UK Funds Split Over Regulation 12. First Ever Global Survey of Sustainability Reporting For information on creative marketing opportunities in this or other UNEP FI publications please contact fi@unep.ch 1. UNEP FI TOKYO ROUNDTABLE UPDATE 'Sustaining Value' ? A Meeting on Finance and Sustainability October 20-21, 2003 ? Tokyo, Japan http://www.unepfi.net/tokyo On October 20-21, 2003, bankers, insurers, asset managers, policy-makers, and civil society representatives will converge on one of the world's key financial centres ? Tokyo, Japan ? for the 2003 UNEP FI Global Roundtable. Building on its global reach and experience, UNEP FI is presently finalising an exciting and thought-provoking agenda, focusing on governance, accountability, transparency, and reporting ? issues which are central to sustainable economies. The event will provide signatory companies, and other attendees, opportunities to explore both introductory and advanced sustainability related topics, with both regional and global significance. Sponsorship and marketing opportunities are still available. Do not miss this opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to sustainability to this global audience. Visit the Roundtable website - http://www.unepfi.net/tokyo - for the latest information, and sign-up for updates on the event. Contact: Trevor Bowden: trevor.bowden@unep.ch Tel: +44 (0) 207 249 2154 EVENT OUTCOMES 2. Insuring the Uninsurable Climate Change Working Group (CCWG) takes part in Expert Workshop on Climate Change and Insurance March 20, 2003 ? Munich, Germany http://www.unepfi.net/cc The UNEP FI Secretariat presented its broad work programme and actively participated in an Expert Workshop on Climate Change and Insurance entitled, 'Insuring the Uninsurable', in the Munich Re headquarters on March 20, 2003. Jointly hosted by Munich Re and the NGO GERMANWATCH, the event brought together insurance industry representatives, non-governmental organisations and government officials for a technical briefing on insurance and climate change in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) insurance workshops. If you have yet to obtain a copy of 'Climate Change and the Financial Services Industry', please visit: http://www.unepfi.net for free downloads. Over 20,000 copies have been downloaded to date! Contact: Scott Flemming: scott.flemming@unep.ch Tel: +41 (0) 22 917 8686 MEMBER SHOWCASE 3. Dresdner Bank at the Cutting Edge of Emissions Trading in Germany http://www.dta.de/dtaportal/Finanzierung/d010KrediB/d020UmwelI/d050Hessen-Tender/d050Hessen-Tender.jsp On March 11 the first of its kind German CO(subscript: 2) emissions trading pilot project was concluded in Wiesbaden. Representatives from the State of Hesse and from industries that had participated in the "Hesse-Tender" presented the results of the project, shared their experiences and discussed conclusions and recommendations. The Hesse Tender was initiated jointly by the State of Hesse and five industry partners - Deutsche Telekom, Dresdner Bank, Infraserv Höchst, x-launch and the Deutsche Ausgleichsbank, who acted as the trustee - to advance the operationalisation of carbon credit trading under the scheme of the Kyoto Protocol. In the EU the binding CO(subscript: 2) emissions trading system will be implemented in 2005. The project partners of the Hesse-Tender organised an auction for emissions reduction credits and provided one million Euros for the purchase of such credits from German companies. Thus for the first time in Germany a market-based price for emissions reductions could be determined at 6.58 Euro per tonne of reduced CO(subscript: 2 )emissions. From the point of view of Dresdner Bank, the Hesse-Tender has been a major step in making emissions trading a tangible reality for German industry. Companies will be able to continue to trade the carbon credits acquired through the Hesse-Tender on existing carbon markets. The pilot project was also a valuable testing field to try carbon trading related instruments in a real market situation. The refinement and standardisation of practical tools for calculating CO(subscript: 2) emissions and credit trading are already reducing transaction costs and are especially important for the involvement of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). At the Dresdner Bank another concrete result of the participation in the Hesse-Tender was the development of a carbon credit trading portfolio. Contact: Armin Sandhövel: armin.sandhoevel@dresdner-bank.com Tel: +49 (0) 69 263 55193 4. Standard Chartered Child Centre March 17, 2003 The Independent ? Banjul, Gambia http://allafrica.com/stories/200303170588.html Following the deliberations of the technical working group for the establishment of a drop-in-centre in Banjul, Gambia, by the Standard Chartered Bank, the bank recently inaugurated its Board of Trustees. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Aminata Bah, Corporate Affairs manager, said that two years ago, the bank organized a consultative meeting with the stakeholders in which the bank, under the community partnership for Africa, established a framework for building a viable child centre in the Kanifing Municipal Area to address the problem of street children and other disadvantaged children of society. She said significant progress has been registered, culminating in the opening of the centre, noting that a technical working group, comprising representatives of UNICEF, SPACO, Departments of Education, and Social Welfare, KMC, the media, peace corps and the bank have laboured hard to take care of the centre. Contact: Robert Tacon: Robert.Tacon@uk.standardchartered.com Tel: +44 (0) 20 7280 7903 5. UNEP FI Welcomes Calvert Group as a New Signatory http://www.calvertgroup.com/aboutindex_1515.html Calvert Group, who takes pride in being known for offering the largest family of socially-screened mutual funds as well as award winning tax-free investment products, has recently joined the UNEP Finance Initiatives. Calvert has quickly evolved from a single-fund management company in 1976 to become, as the company asserts, one of the Washington D.C. area's largest mutual fund management firms with more than $8.5 billion in assets under management for over 220,000 investors. The company's information material states that today the group distributes nationwide through major wire house broker/dealers, regional brokerage firms, financial planning organisations, and bank trust departments. Through its high quality investment management, customer service, marketing capabilities, and innovative family of products Calvert is a leader in providing quality investment programs and services to investors nationwide. ACTIVITIES 6. The New Green House Gas (GHG) Indicator UNEP Guidelines for Calculating Green House Gas Emissions for Businesses and Non-Commercial Organisations http://www.uneptie.org/energy/act/ef/GHGin/index.htm A new version of "The GHG Indicator", which was originally developed by UNEP FI, is now available online for download. The new and improved automated version will assist participants in different areas from simplified data entry to quick and effortless calculation. This version is fully compatible with the original version of the Indicator, however quicker and easier to use. The GHG Indicator provides a method for converting information on fuel and energy use, readily obtainable by companies, to estimate GHG emissions. The Guidelines provide a step-by-step approach based on easy to use worksheets. The Indicator can be applied at different levels of a company regardless of size or location, as well as to financial institutions, government agencies, non-governmental organisations and other entities interested in estimating their GHG emissions. Contact at UNEP: Amr M. Abdel Hai: amr.hai@unep.fr 7. Financing Sustainable Energy Directory Now Available Online http://www.energy-base.org/pdf/Directory2002.pdf Collaboration between UNEP FI, UNEP Energy and BASE has produced a 'must-have' comprehensive listing of lenders and investors in the sustainable energy sector. The Financing Sustainable Energy (FSE) Directory is now available online. BASE, the Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy, promotes and facilitates investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency to accelerate the worldwide market development of sustainable energy and to contribute to global climate protection, poverty mitigation, and conflict prevention. For more information on BASE, please visit: http://www.energy-base.org In addition, the FSE-directory is now available as an Online Interactive Database: http://www.fse-directory.net/ Contact: Virginia Sonntag-O'Brien: virginia.sonntagob@energy-base.org EVENT WIRE 8. First European Conference on Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) Creating the Market for the ESCOs Industry in Europe May 22-23, 2003 ? Milan, Italy http://energyefficiency.jrc.cec.eu.int/events The European Commission, as part of its activities to promote the Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) industry in the European Union (EU), is organising an international conference on the status, prospects and challenges that the Energy Service Industry is facing today in Europe, following the recent electricity and gas market liberalisation and the international commitments deriving from the Kyoto Protocol. The conference aims at gathering for the first time the numerous and different ESCOs operating in Europe and to discuss together with policy makers, experts, clients and members of the financial community the opportunities and strategy to promote the ESCO industry in Europe. Contact: Rebekka Mattyasovszky: rebekka.mattyasovszky@cec.eu.int Tel: +39 0332 78 9113 or +39 0332 78 9299 or +39 0332 78 9145 (Secretary) NEWS 9. Anger at Corporate Responsibility Index March 12, 2003 Financial Times http://www.iblf.org/csr/csrwebassist.nsf/content/c1a2.html http://www2.bitc.org.uk/programmes/key_initiatives/corporate_responsibility_index/index.html Business in the Community has provoked anger from companies who were given poor scores in the charity's first corporate responsibility index, which was published today. The league table of 122 companies, including 53 of the FTSE 100, scores businesses on how well they measure and integrate responsible practices affecting the environment, the marketplace, the workplace and the community. The table has five divisions. Patrick Mallon, director of corporate responsibility and benchmarking at BITC, said it was encouraging that so many companies had taken part in the voluntary benchmarking exercise. But he added: "We've had all sorts of chairmen and chief executives in an absolute rage about their relative performance. Some companies are saying: 'It's outrageous. We can't believe we're in the fifth quintile'. "He said their reaction was "healthy" and would drive better performance next year. 10. NGOs Call on Banks Not to Fund Large Dam and Smelter Project in Iceland March 13, 2003 http://www.inca.is/ An international coalition of 120 environmental organisations on March 13 called on private banks and international financial institutions not to provide any funds for the large Kárahnjúkar dam and aluminum smelter project in Iceland. "If built, the Kárahnjúkar project will consist of nine dams, three reservoirs, a series of tunnels and river diversions, and a 690 megawatt power plant. It is only the first in a series of new large dam projects in Iceland's highlands that are supposed to power new aluminum smelters. "Kárahnjúkar will destroy unique environmental treasures on Iceland's Eastern Highlands - the second largest remaining wilderness area in Western Europe", says Arni Finnsson of the Iceland Nature Conservation Association (INCA). 11. UK Funds Split Over Regulation Financial Times March 9, 2003 http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/Page/GenericPage&c=Page&cid=1045511443391 Several leading UK pension funds believe that the savings industry should be forced to comply with the government-sponsored Myners code, amid signs that support for voluntary arrangements is weakening. The apparent lack of consensus could undermine the industry's case for self-regulation, as the UK government prepares to gauge pension funds' compliance with its code of best practice. A survey by Watson Wyatt, the investment consultancy, found that only 60 per cent of the UK's biggest pension funds are in favour of a voluntary code. A fifth advocated a mandatory approach while another fifth were undecided. The findings - based on a poll of 115 pension funds with a total of £165bn of assets - suggest that two groups would back a mandatory code: funds that have the means to cope with extra disclosure rules and funds that are struggling to get sufficient resources from their sponsoring companies. Advocates of self-regulation argue that great strides have been made in the two years since the report on institutional investment by Paul Myners, former chairman of Gartmore. "We hope the government will realise that better disclosure - rather than hard-coded rules - is the best way forward," said Christine Farnish, the National Association of Pension Funds' chief executive. 12. First Ever Global Survey of Sustainability Reporting ECC Research and Fishburn Hedges invite to partake in their survey http://ww3.umfragecenter.de/uc/sa_ecc-fh-survey ECC Research (Bonn) and Fishburn Hedges (London) are conducting a global survey of sustainability reporting and are asking individuals that have been in contact with such reports to participate in the 15 minutes survey. The motivation of ECC Research and Fishburn Hedges to undertake a global survey of corporate sustainability and CSR reporting is the enormous growth in this area, which however raises many issues about how to report, on what subjects, to what standard and how to achieve credibility. The survey aims to aid the improvement of company reporting methods as well as the way in which the reports address the needs of readers and users. The results of the survey will be widely publicised. To access the questionnaire follow this link: http://ww3.umfragecenter.de/uc/sa_ecc-fh-survey The questionnaire is online from March, 26th to April, 9th 2003. Contact: Dr. Axel Klein: axel.klein@ecc-group.com ECC Kohtes Klewes, Bonn, Germany Martin Le Jeune: martin.lejeune@fishburn-hedges.co.uk Fishburn Hedges, London, UK To unsubscribe: email: LISTSERV@peach.ease.lsoft.com and in the body of the email type "signoff UNEPFI" To subscribe: email: LISTSERV@peach.ease.lsoft.com and in the body of the email type "subscribe UNEP FI" END. The UNEP FI e-bulletin is a monthly publication of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiatives. United Nations Environment Programme Division of Technology, Industry and Economics Economics and Trade Branch Finance Initiatives Unit Chief Editor: Paul Clements-Hunt pch@unep.ch Editor: Robert Reid robert.reid@unep.ch Created by: Jacob Malthouse jacob.malthouse@unep.ch Disclaimer: The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of UNEP or UNEP FI, or of its signatories, nor does UNEP FI or its signatories take any responsibility for actions taken as a result of views or opinions expressed in this publication. Copyright 2003 - UNEP FI