Work Streams

Policy and Regulation

An important area of activity for the UNEP FI Climate Change Working Group (CCWG) is to educate the public at large, particularly government and policymakers about the challenge of climate change, and to influence the policy process both at the national and international levels. The CCWG has always had a strong presence at the annual Conference of the Parties as part of the Kyoto process.

Recommendations for the finance sector and policymakers

Policy and regulation are a strong theme in the work of the CCWG, and a major element in the CCWG's publications and CEO Briefings on:

• climate risk (PDF: 677 KB),
• emissions trading (PDF: 200 KB),
• renewable energy (PDF: 375 KB), and
• the future of climate policy (PDF: 1.4 MB).

In addition to providing the finance sector with recommendations, all the CCWG's briefings address what policymakers need to do in order to mobilise the finance sector on these relevant environmental issues.

A need for leadership and political certainty

A key message of the CCWG is that although financial institutions should be taking a more proactive role, an absolute prerequisite is strong government leadership on adaptation and mitigation measures. In order for market-based solutions to thrive government has to provide financial institutions with the necessary regulatory architecture. The most important thing governments can do is provide long-term political certainty on regulations, to show the financial services industry that climate change warrants the commitment of valuable time and resources.