 UNEP FI Climate Change Working Group work at heart of discussions in Cancun
11 January, 2011 
UNEP FI’s Climate Change Working Group was pleased to be at Cancun for the 2010 COP16 negotiations, and also take part in organising the first World Climate Summit. A key outcome of the negotiations was the Cancun Agreements, welcomed by many as a positive achievement and bringing hope for progress in COP17 this year. Discussions showed how the need to involve the private sector in financing and addressing climate change at an international level is now being recognized, as called for by UNEP Finance Initiative and its members through 2 global industry Statements in 2010.
Summary Document: Briefing on COP16 and the Cancun Agreements
Find out more information about these activities:
UNEP FI at the UNFCCC COP 16
UNEP FI at the World Climate Summit 2010
Summary of the UNEP FI events at Cancun
Global Insurance Statement 2010
Global Investor Statement 2010
UNEP FI at Cancun: 'Financing real transformation? Designing an effective financial mechanism under the Convention'
25 November, 2010 UNEP FI and WWF, with the support of the IIGCC, welcome you to the event "Financing real transformation? Designing an effective financial mechanism under the Convention" on 6 December in Cancun, Mexico at the Jaguar Room. Amidst the UNFCCC Cancun negotiations, we bring together the combined voice of the NGO community and the private financial sector regarding the financing of action to tackle climate change. There is powerful convergence of opinion between NGO community and private finance on the need for increased public finance for climate change action in order to leverage greater amounts of private finance in support of the transition to low-carbon and resource-efficient economic development. The session will explore how significantly scaled up public and private financing are both needed, and how the financial mechanism under the Convention should both aim to leverage private finance and channel public finance into adaptation and mitigation efforts that lack an immediate commercial dimension. The event will highlight what private finance can do in a climate change mitigation context, and in the same time what it cannot do, bringing as speakers key government negotiators, Deutsche Bank and the WWF. Media representatives are welcome. See the Media Advisory. See the Press Release.
The world's capital markets demand determined policy action on climate change
16 November, 2010 
Over 250 investors responsible for the management of funds the size of US GDP call for policies to unlock low-carbon growth and avoid economic devastation.
The world's largest global investors have a powerful message for world governments and climate negotiators in Cancun: take action now in the fight against global warming or risk economic disruptions far more severe than the recent financial crisis. Investors released the statement, which was facilitated by the UNEP FI Climate Change Working Group and Partners, calling for national and international policies that will spur private investment into low-carbon growth and protect the world economy from the worst impacts of climate change. Signatories include both global players like UNEP FI Signatories Allianz and HSBC as well as many smaller institutions from developed and developing countries. This is the largest-ever group of investors to call for government action on climate change. “We cannot drag our feet on the issue of global climate change," said Barbara Krumsiek, Chair of the UNEP FI and CEO of US-based investment firm Calvert Investments. "Calvert is deeply concerned about the devastating impacts climate change - if left unaddressed - will have on the global economy. Based on the Stern Report, we know these impacts could reach global GDP cuts of an unimaginable 20% per year. Why should we take that risk? The solutions are quickly emerging and we must deploy these solutions to help secure the innovation and sustainable growth our economies need." See the Press Release. Media coverage. See the policy impact of the statement.
Versions: English Spanish Portuguese
Launch of CEO Briefing: 'Demystifying Materiality: Hardwiring biodiversity and ecosystem services into finance'
27 October, 2010 
From banks to insurance companies, some key financial institutions are beginning to recognize rising risks to investments from biodiversity and ecosystems loss. These are some of the findings from a new CEO Briefing by UNEP FI, entitled Demystifying Materiality: Hardwiring Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services into Finance, launched at the UN biological diversity convention meeting in Nagoya, Japan. UNEP FI Co-Chair Richard Burrett said: “As the global financial sector recovers and moves into the post financial crisis era, there is one notion that crystallises before our eyes more acutely than ever: we need to understand systemic risk in a genuinely holistic way. This CEO Briefing underscores the critical natural capital that underpins our economic activity and financial capital. As the finance sector, we need to ensure that we operationalise this thinking in the management of investment and lending activities. The CEO Briefing shows why this is the case.”
Read the report. Japanese version. German version. Senior executives' commentary.
Press Release. Press release in Spanish. Media coverage.
UNEP FI Co-Chair Richard Burrett on finance, biodiversity and natural capital
14 October, 2010 
'Nature is not just about fluffy animals or brightly coloured frogs -- it's central to the health of businesses that need to incorporate environmental impacts into their risk management,' Richard Burrett told Reuters reporter David Fogarty. Days before the start of the UN biodiversity convention negotiations in Nagoya, Co-Chair Burrett explains the links between finance, biodiversity and natural capital. Read the article.
Nature central to economy
Nature is not just about fluffy animals or brightly coloured frogs — it’s central to the health of businesses that need to incorporate environmental impacts into their risk management, a senior United Nations official said. Such an approach should be obvious, said Richard Burrett, co-chair of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative, yet nature remains essentially invisible to many people and companies, particularly in urban centres. Read more.
Putting a Price on Global Environmental Damage
5 October, 2010 
San Francisco, USA - Global environmental damage caused by human activity in 2008 represented a monetary value of $ 6.6 trillion, equivalent to 11% of global GDP, calculates a study released today by the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). Those global costs are 20% larger than the $ 5.4 trillion decline in the value of pension funds in developed countries caused by the global financial crisis in 2007/8. The study, an initial effort to quantify in monetary terms the environmental harm caused by business and the possible future consequences for investor portfolios, fund returns and company earnings, estimates that in 2008 the world's top 3,000 public companies were responsible for a third of all global environmental damage. The study warns that as environmental damage and resource depletion increases, and governments start applying a "polluter pays" principle, the value of large portfolios will be affected through higher insurance premiums on companies, taxes, inflated input prices and the price tags for clean-ups. Read the Report.
See the Press release. Media coverage.
UNEP FI and partners launch the World Climate Summit
21 September, 2010 
The UNEP Finance Initiative and partners, including the World Bank, the UN Global Compact, the Carbon Disclosure Project and many others, have come together to launch the inaugural World Climate Summit, 4-5 December, 2010 at The Ritz-Carlton, Cancun, Mexico, in parallel to the UNFCCCCOP 16 conference. As the first founding partner of the WCS and the conference's main focal point on finance, investment and insurance, the UNEP Finance Initiative is supported by a large coalition of financial institutions and investors, both UNEP FI Signatories as well as numerous climate change networks such as IIGCC, IGCC, INCR, the PRI, ClimateWise and FELABAN.
Visit the conference's website
Register here
See the Press Release
Media Coverage
The finance sector to step up efforts to combat climate change and increase investment in renewable energy, urges Nobel Laureate
14 September, 2010 80 days before the UN climate change negotiations the UNEP Finance Initiative leads the discussion with the finance sector at a forum in Mexico City entitled “The Financial Sector towards COP16”
Mexico City, 13 September, 2010 – Less than three months before world leaders will meet in Mexico in attempt to negotiate a new global deal on climate change, leading finance executives came together in Mexico City, under the umbrella of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). The Bankers Club of the Mexican Banking Association (ABM) hosted 55 senior finance executives who exchanged views on the finance sector’s role with regard to climate change solutions. The event was co-organized by the UNEP Finance Initiative, the Mexican Banking Association and the Mexican National Institute of Ecology, and was moderated by Jessica Jacob, UNEP Finance Initiative Latin America Task Force Coordinator.
Nobel Laureate Dr. Mario Molina delivered the keynote address, urging the finance sector to increase investment in renewable energy. ‘The private sector has to see the real business and investment opportunities and learn from the existing best practices to accelerate progress. There is no one magical solution. We need to take different simultaneous actions, such as investing in solar and wind energy’, he added. Read more.
Media Coverage.
The global insurance industry demands public-private action on climate change adaptation in developing countries
6 September, 2010  Four initiatives representing more than 100 leading international insurance companies are today calling on governments worldwide to harness risk management techniques and insurance expertise to help implement climate change adaptation measures in the developing world as well as to firmly anchor insurance mechanisms as part of the future international climate change regime under the UNFCCC. Read more...
Read the Statement: English, French, Spanish, Korean
See the Press Release.
Media Coverage generated by the Global Insurance Industry Statement.
Impact of Water Scarcity on Power Generation
6 September, 2010  UNEP FI launches Issue 2 of the Chief Liquidity Series at World Water Week in Stockholm
The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) launched Issue 2 of The Chief Liquidity Series focused on the Power Sector at an event entitled ‘Seeking Liquidity: Integrating Corporate Water Performance into the Core of Financial Services and Capital Markets’, during World Water Week.
In an effort to encourage new thinking and foster creative solutions to the world’s most pressing water challenges, the World Water Week in Stockholm convened leading experts, practitioners and decision makers in the field. UNEP FI led the discussion on how water stresses impacted business performance in water-intensive sectors. Read the Press Release.
Media Coverage.
China and the green journey of its financial sector
25 August, 2010 Months before the UN climate change negotiations, the Head of UNEP Finance Initiative Paul Clements-Hunt visits China to engage policy makers and financial institutions.
Mr. Paul Clements-Hunt, Head of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and Ms Wei Peng, UNEP FI Asia Task Force Coordinator, are visiting China in early September this year. Months before the UN climate change negotiations they will take the opportunity to engage senior policy officials and leading financial institutions with the view of discussing China's vision of its 'green finance' future.
Interested media representatives are invited to get in touch for interviews with Paul Clements-Hunt, whose schedule in China is the following:
1 - 5 Sept, Beijing
6 Sept, Shanghai
7 - 9 Sept, Xia Men
See the Full Media Information Note.
A Blossoming Relationship — Chiba Bank joins UNEP FI
14 July, 2010 “From small acorns great oak trees grow. Chiba Bank’s joining is an important step and we shall take that message to the Secretary General”, announced Paul Clements-Hunt
The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) welcomed The Chiba Bank, Ltd. (Chiba Bank), the second largest regional bank in Japan in terms of assets, as our new member. The UNEP FI membership of Chiba Bank became official at a signing ceremony at Palais des Nations in Geneva, after Mr. Hidetoshi Sakuma, President of Chiba Bank, and Mr. Paul Clements-Hunt, Head of UNEP FI signed the ‘UNEP Statement by Financial Institutions on the Environment and Sustainable Development’, as a sign of future cooperation in the area of sustainable finance. “It is a great pleasure to attend this ceremony for this occasion, and I am very grateful for the support provided by UNEP FI”, said the President of Chiba Bank, Mr. Hidetoshi Sakuma. “Prior to the ceremony Mr Clements-Hunt provided, on two different occasions, seminars on the role of financial institutions in fostering a low-carbon society.”
Read the Story and watch the Video.
The Launch of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) for Business Report
13 July, 2010 Biodiversity Is Climbing the Corporate Agenda. Companies with 'Net Positive Impact' on Biological Diversity are Winners in Resource-Constrained World
Business leaders in biodiversity-rich developing economies are concerned about losses of 'natural capital', a new report launched today highlights. Over 50 per cent of Chief Executive Officers surveyed in Latin America and 45 per cent in Africa see declines in biodiversity as a challenge to business growth. In contrast, less than 20 per cent of their counterparts in Western Europe share such concerns. The findings, compiled by a study of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), indicate that those corporate chiefs who fail to make sustainable management of biodiversity part of their business plans may find themselves increasingly out of step with the market place.
The financial sector, as underlined by UNEP FI Biodiversity Working Group's contribution to the report, has a key role to play. Read the press release in English, Spanish, Arabic, French and Chinese. See the Executive Summary. See the support to TEEB for Business expressed by UNEP FI members...
UNEP FI Soft Launch: Conference in Cancun
12 May, 2010  UNEP FI, in a partnership with the World Climate Summit (WCS), Time magazine, Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and with the support of the Mexican Government’s Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, Pro Mexico, will convene 300 of the most prominent and influential leaders from business, finance, entrepreneurship, and governments to accelerate, and collaborate on, economic solutions to climate change.
The exclusive inaugural summit will run in parallel to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Chance COP 16 conference in Cancun, Mexico December 4-5th, 2010. With the help of its partners, this initiative has access to the largest concentration of industry leaders and investors through more than 60 industry associations, 100 chambers of commerce, 2,500 companies and more than 530 investors representing $64 trillion of assets under management.
Watch the Video.
Read the Press Release.
Barbara J. Krumsiek and Richard Burrett named Co-Chairs of UNEP Finance Initiative
27 April, 2010 Finance and investment to play a lead role in the May 2012 "Rio+20" United Nations Earth Summit
The largest partnership between the United Nations and the financial services sector has elected two new Co-Chairs to steer the initiative in the run up to the landmark UN "Rio+20" Summit in May 2012.
Barbara J. Krumsiek, President & CEO of the Bethesda, Maryland headquartered Calvert Group Ltd, and Richard Burrett, a partner in the London-based Earth Capital Partners, will steer the United Nations Environment programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) for the next two years.
The United Nation's "Rio+20" summit will convene in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, twenty years after the original 1992 Rio Earth Summit when world leaders gathered for the first time to discuss environmental and development issues. UNEP FI was formed to provide input to the 1992 summit. The role of finance and capital markets will be central to the Green Economy theme of Rio+20.
Read the full Press Release.
UNEP FI reaches out to the financial sector in Turkey
16 April, 2010 
The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative welcomed its first member from the finance sector in Turkey. The membership of the Industrial Development Bank of Turkey (TSKB) became official at a signing ceremony, after Paul Clements-Hunt, Head of UNEP FI, and Halil Eroğlu, TSKB’s Central Executive Officer (CEO), signed the ‘UNEP Statement by Financial Institutions on the Environment and Sustainable Development’, as a sign of future cooperation in the area of sustainable finance.
Read more.
Press Release.
See News on the UNEP Website.
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