Work Streams

Renewable Energy

UNEP is working to create the policy and economic framework where sustainable energy can increasingly meet the global energy challenge. Changing attitudes and helping mainstream financiers to consider sustainable energy investments are key components of the energy work within UNEP and the starting point for the Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative (SEFI), a partnership between UNEP FI, UNEP Energy, and the Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy (BASE).

About the Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative (SEFI)

SEFI aims to foster a sustainable energy finance community that,

• brings together financiers
• engages them to do jointly what they may have been reluctant or unable to do individually, and
• catalyses public-private alliances that together share costs and lower barriers to investment.

SEFI derives its mandate from the necessity to support this community through a platform that bridges the gap between what are known as opportunities and are feared as barriers.

By educating and connecting investors, creating a stable environment to catalyze investment flows, and minimizing risk and uncertainty, SEFI exists to promote, facilitate and support increased investment in the sustainable energy sector.

UNEP FI and SEFI

Currently, UNEP FI's work on SEFI is channelled through the Climate Change Working Group, which produced a CEO Briefing on Renewable Energy (PDF: 375 KB) for the 2004 Renewables Summit, and Sustainable Energy Finance event in Bonn.

Related publications

Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative (SEFI) Brochure (223 KB)

SEFI Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2008 Report

SEFI Sustainable Energy Finance Directory - a free-of-charge online database of lenders and investors who actively provide finance to the sustainable energy sector worldwide.