Work Streams

"... human-induced climate change is already occurring and future change is inevitable. It is not a question of whether the Earth's climate will change, but rather by how much, how fast and where."

Robert T. Watson
past-Chair
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Our Work

UNEP FI channels its work on climate change through the Climate Change Working Group (CCWG). The CCWG's membership is diverse, ranging from banks to reinsurers with a wide array of knowledge and expertise. Its areas of focus include:

• carbon finance, which examines different types of financial instruments/products and services that lead to climate change mitigation and adaptation, emissions trading being a prime example;
• policy and regulation debates at both the national and international levels, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process, and
• renewable energy as part of UNEP FI's involvement in the Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative (SEFI).

Background

Climate change is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing our planet requiring urgent action from all sections of society, and the finance sector is no exception.

Recently issued scientific reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, among others, have affirmed that most global warming over the past 50 years is attributable to human activities. They have also concluded that:

• the climate may warm faster than previously thought;
• developing countries are most at risk; and
• at some point, sudden and irreversible shifts in global climate patterns may occur.

The greenhouse gases (GHGs) which create the problem – of which carbon dioxide is the best known – persist for many decades. To stabilise atmospheric concentrations at just twice the pre-industrial level would require current emission levels to be cut by 60%. There is, therefore, a growing sense of urgency to act in a meaningful fashion.

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Note: Wherever "Contraction and Convergence" is mentioned in UNEP FI work, it is recognised that the concept originated with and has been developed by the London-based Global Commons Institute.