Regional Activities

Outreach Group

Outreach Group Meetings

First Meeting of the Asia Pacific Task Force Outreach Group

Comprised of a group of eight UNEP FI signatories and five UNEP FI partner organizations operating in the Asia Pacific region, this group held its first meeting on 21 April 2005 by conference call. The Outreach Group will lead and coordinate various outreach activities within the Asia Pacific region. This excludes initiatives operated directly within established country groupings such as Australia or Japan.

Research, outreach and training were discussed as potential activities for the Group. An initial action is to share a calendar of events amongst the members on the UNEP FI website. This will enable better cooperation and communication of information by signatories and other interested organizations throughout the region.

Second Meeting of the Asia Pacific Task Force Outreach Group

The Asia Pacific Task Force Outreach group held its second meeting on 26 May 2005, by conference call. The Outreach Group which is chaired by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has accepted the nomination of ADFIAP (Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia & the Pacific) to be Co-Chair of the group.  It also welcomed the participation of ASrIA as a new member of the group.

Discussions in the conference call centered around the results of a UNEP FI survey distributed amongst financial institutions in Indonesia. Initial responses have been received from 42 organisations, an impressive statistic in a country where sustainability issues for financial institutions have to date received little coverage.

Third Meeting of the Asia Pacific Task Force Outreach Group

The Asia Pacific Task Force Outreach group held its third meeting on 5 July 2005, by conference call. Discussions centred on administrative matters as well as the development of an information brochure for the Asia Pacific Task Force. The possibility of holding training events in the region was also discussed. The latter will be considered further as the Groups 2006 work program is developed.

UNEP FI Survey on Sustainable Finance in the Asia Pacific

The state of sustainable finance practices in development finance institutions in the Asia Pacific

Introduction

UNEP FI undertook a survey of ADFIAP (Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific) member institutions and presented its findings at the 28th Annual Meeting of ADFIAP, 10-13 May in Fiji.  From a sample of 19 ADFIAP members including many small institutions, UNEP FI found that many are already active in providing environmental products and services (eg. environmental loans and, microfinance) and undertake community developments (eg. community investment and community outreach). However only a handful have a sustainability management system or publish sustainability reports. Through this survey, the UNEP FI Asia Pacific Outreach Group has identified a need and interest in the conducting of training on sustainability management and reporting practices.  This will enable these financial institutions to take a strategic approach to sustainable financial practices and to communicate their achievements effectively.

• Download ADFIAP meeting presentation (PDF: 675 KB)

Key findings from ADFIAP members’ survey (19 responses)

Characteristics of 19 ADFIAP members’ responded:

• Includes many small institutions (13 have <1,000 employees)
• Many (15/19) provide environmental products and services (eg. environmental loans, microfinance)
• Many (17/19) undertake community development (eg. community investment, community outreach)
• But only a handful have a sustainability management system (6/19) or publish sustainability reports (7/19)
• Many have expressed interest in education and training on sustainable finance

Conclusions

Despite active sustainable practices, few are:

• taking a strategic approach, nor
• communicating their achievements effectively.