A total of 171 banks from around the world have now signed UNEP FI’s Principles for Responsible Banking: each one making a commitment to far-reaching change as they realign their businesses with the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Goals. This is a significant increase from the 130 founding […]

The European Banking Federation (EBF) and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI ) are launching a project to assess the extent to which the EU Taxonomy on Sustainable Activities could be applied to core banking products. The objective of the project is to: Provide a high-level feasibility assessment of the EU Taxonomy […]

33 banks commit to immediate action towards aligning with global climate goals 23 September/New York To coincide with the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit, one day after the launch of the UN Principles for Responsible Banking , 33 of their Signatories with over $13 trillion in assets have today announced a Collective Commitment to Climate […]

New York, 22 September 2019 – In a massive boost for climate action and sustainability, leading banks and the United Nations today launched the Principles for Responsible Banking, with 130 banks collectively holding USD 47 trillion in assets, or one third of the global banking sector, signed up. In the Principles, launched one day ahead of […]

25 July 2019, Geneva – Following a six-month public consultative process, the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) has this week released the final official versions of the UNEP FI Principles for Responsible Banking and their supporting framework documents. The Principles have been developed by a core group of 30 Founding Banks through […]

26 June 2019, Geneva – The number of banks worldwide lined up to become an official “Signatory” of the highly anticipated Principles for Responsible Banking has now jumped to 69 representing all continents. The Principles for Responsible Banking are set to launch on 22 September 2019 at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters, during the UN […]

22 May 2019, Geneva – The number of banks worldwide endorsing the highly anticipated Principles for Responsible Banking has now jumped to 56, including a spearheading group of 28 ‘Founding Banks’ and a growing list of currently 27 more ‘Endorsing Banks’ representing all five continents. The Principles for Responsible Banking are set to launch on […]

Twenty institutional investors from eleven countries convened by the UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) today launched comprehensive investor guidance to help assess how climate change and climate action could impact investor portfolios around the world. These assessments enable investors to be more transparent about their climate-related risks and opportunities in line with the recommendations […]

CEOs invited to signing event being held at UN Headquarters parallel to high-level UN General Assembly Leading banks around the globe that are members of UNEP FI have set 22 September as the official launch date of the industry-developed UNEP FI Principles for Responsible Banking. The Principles provide the framework for a sustainable banking system […]

When Madeleine Ronquest attended the Johannesburg launch of an innovative guide designed to help banks assess their exposure to environmental degradation, a quick look around the room proved it was no longer business as usual in the financial sector. “When I started out there weren’t any environmental or sustainability people in the banks, and (at the launch) […]

Today 12 more banks are endorsing the UNEP Finance Initiative’s Principles for Responsible Banking, bringing the total number of banks supporting the new framework to 49. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Itaú Unibanco, CaixaBank, Wema Bank, Banco Galicia, BCC Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar, Banco De Fomento Agropecuario, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings, Spare Bank, Arion Bank, ALEXBANK, and […]

Standard Chartered PLC, KBC Group, KB Financial Group, DGB Financial Group, Natixis, GLS Bank, Landsbankinn, Zenith Bank and Keystone Bank among first Endorsers of the Principles for Responsible Banking Standard Chartered PLC, KBC Group, KB Financial Group, DGB Financial Group, Natixis, GLS Bank, Landsbankinn hf., Zenith Bank and Keystone Bank become the first banks beyond […]

  On Saturday, following two weeks marked by dramatic rhetoric and intense negotiations over legal language, close to 200 Governments bridged a deep global divide and agreed on the set of rules meant to steer countries worldwide in implementing the historic 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. UNEP FI’s Climate Lead, Remco Fischer gives more […]

Today at its Global Roundtable in Paris, UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and 28 banks from around the world are launching the Principles for Responsible Banking for global public consultation. Together the banks represent over USD 17 trillion in combined assets, and CEOs from 12 of the banks will attend the launch.

UN Environment’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) announced today a partnership with 16 of the world’s largest insurers—representing around 10% of world premium and USD 5 trillion in assets under management—to develop a new generation of risk assessment tools designed to enable the insurance industry to better understand the impacts of climate change on their business. This understanding is vital for an industry whose core business is to manage risk.

Our network keeps expanding, as three banks and one supporting institution join UNEP FI (English) During the month of August, we welcomed three banks and one supporting institution as new members of UNEP FI in Latin America and the Caribbean. BNF (Banco Nacional de Fomento), BANESCO, Multibank and the institution CECODES (Consejo Empresarial Colombia para […]

Finance sector commits to working together to develop Sustainable Finance Roadmaps for Australia & New Zealand Finance sector organisations – including banking, insurance and investment industries, representing over 300 institutions with $10 trillion in assets – have today released a joint statement in support of a sustainable financial system for Australia and New Zealand.

Sixteen leading banks convened by the UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and supported by climate risk advisory firm Acclimatise, have released new methodologies that aim to help the banking industry to understand and manage the physical risks and opportunities of climate change in their loan portfolios.

The Portfolio Carbon Initiative – a collaboration between World Resources Institute (WRI), UNEP Finance Initiative and 2 Degrees Investing Initiative – have published Exploring Metrics to Measure the Climate Progress of Banks to provide insight into which metrics banks can use to report on the extent to which their activities help or hinder the transition […]

Go to the main Principles for Responsible Banking page for more information and to find out how you and your organisation can get involved. Update as of 30 September: 28 banks are now collaborating to develop the Principles for Responsible Banking. 29 May, 2018 Twenty-six leading banks from 5 continents representing USD 16 trillion in […]

ジュネーブ（2018年4月24日）| 国連環境金融イニシアティブ（UNEP FI）の署名機関である16の大手銀行は、気候変動と気候に関する行動がビジネスにどのような影響を与えるかについて銀行の理解を深めるために、共同で開発した手法を発表しました。

この取り組みは、銀行がTCFDに沿って気候関連のリスクと機会へのエクスポージャーをより透明なものにするための基本的なものです。また、銀行が低炭素経済への移行に貢献し、かつ、その恩恵を享受するために自らの戦略に生かし、さらには、同じ目的のために顧客への働きかけを行い、支援することにもつながります。そもそも、銀行が直面する気候関連のリスクと機会とは、顧客に対するサービスから生じるものであるため、そうした顧客への働きかけや支援ということが非常に重要になります。

Outputs of a working group of 16 banks piloting the TCFD Recommendations Part I: Transition-related risks and opportunities This report is the result of a collaboration between sixteen of the world’s leading banks with UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), and management consultancies Oliver Wyman and Mercer to pilot scenario-based assessments of transition-related risks and […]

  Geneva, 24 April, 2018 | Sixteen leading banks from four continents, convened by the UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), today published a jointly developed methodology to increase banks’ understanding of how climate change and climate action could impact their business. This understanding is fundamental to enable banks to be more transparent about their exposure […]

In line with one of the proposed Ghana Banking principles of promoting customers to integrate Environmental Social Governance (ESG) in their business, UNEP FI through colleagues at the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) is undertaking a study to assess the level of integration of sustainability in the business sector’s operations, value chains and […]

Jan 2018 | San Salvador, El Salvador

We are pleased to announce the joining of two new banks to the Initiative.
Banco Hipotecario and Banco de Fomento Agropecuaria held events during January of this year to mark their commitment to sustainable finance.

  27 November, 2017 UNEP FI is very pleased to welcome CIS Kenya, a leading credit-focused association, as a supporting institution. Chief Executive Officer Jared Getenga said, “There is no question on who should join the Sustainable Finance Initiative, we should look at it as a matter of when. All businesses have to calculate risks, […]

Former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Christiana Figueres, laid down a challenge to the banking industry during UNEP FI’s recent Europe Roundtable when she joined as a surprise guest via live video conference. Christiana, who was one of the architects of the Paris Agreement reached at COP21 in […]

26 September 2017 We are pleased to announce that UNEP FI member, BBVA Group, is the latest to join UNEP FI’s first-mover project to implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) along with thirteen other leading banks. In collaboration with the pilot project group, they will jointly pioneer practical approaches […]

September 2017       What does a sustainable bank look like and what role can each department play to further integrate sustainability across a bank? The UN Environment Finance Initiative’s (UNEP FI) Guide to Banking and Sustainability – Edition 2 is a functional overview of what a sustainable bank looks like and is designed […]

5 September, 2017 We are pleased to announce that UNEP FI member, Rabobank, is the latest to join twelve other first-mover banks working together to implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The leading Dutch Bank has already halted financing of unconventional energy extraction such as shale gas, and no […]

31 July 2017 We are pleased that UNEP FI member, DNB, has become the twelfth leading bank to join our pilot project to implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). This follows the announcement in early July that eleven of UNEP FI’s banking members not only welcomed the recommendations but […]

31 October, 2017: Update – 16 banks now form the UNEP FI TCFD pilot project. 11 July, 2017 Eleven of the world’s leading banks announced on 11 July, 2017 that they will work together with UNEP FI to develop analytical tools and indicators to strengthen their assessment and disclosure of climate-related risks and opportunities. Following […]

On April 6th, Shinhan Bank launched its ‘Green Management Firm Loan Program’ with the South Korean Ministry of Environment and KEITI, a UNEP FI Supporting Institution. The program allots USD 87 million for Eco-friendly Small and Medium Entersprises, and loans are made with interest rates of up to 1.3% lower that existing programs. This is […]

  An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ABBANK), the fastest growing retail bank in Vietnam, has become the first UNEP FI member in the country. ABBANK prides itself as one of the first banks to adopt the Bank of Vietnam’s directive to promote green credit growth and manage environmental and social risks in financial operations, […]

Paris, 30 January 2017

Today, 19 leading global banks and investors totaling $6.6 trillion in assets, launched the Principles for Positive Impact Finance at an event in Paris. The programme of the event is available here.

Read the press release in English and in French.

On Thursday 19 January 2017, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, UNEP FI member ANT Financial Services and UN Environment launched the ‘Green Digital Finance Alliance’ a ground-breaking initiative to harness digital technologies in catalyzing financing that addresses global environmental challenges. Financing sustainable development is one of the greatest challenge of our times. To […]

Chinese online payment provider Ant Financial joins UNEP FI Ant Financial Services Group has become the first Fintech company to join UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative’s network of more than 200 financial institution signatories. Ant Financial’s signing of the UNEP FI Statement of Commitment by Financial Institutions on Sustainable Development represents the online payments services providers’ recognition of the role of […]

On 16 October 2016, the Association of Banks in Jordan (ABJ) joined UNEP FI as a Supporting Institution, becoming the second Banking Association in the region to join under this status. The Association, which is an umbrella to 25 Banks in Jordan, seeks to advance the banking business in the country and plays an active […]

  The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) released its draft Recommendations Report in December 2016. The initiative – set up by the Financial Stability Board – will develop voluntary, consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures for use by companies in providing information to investors, lenders, insurers, and other stakeholders. The task force launched a […]

On 27 May 2016, the Banking Association South Africa (BASA) signed an agreement to join UNEP FI as a supporting partner becoming the first Banking Industry Association in Africa and third globally, to achieve a Supporting Institution Status. This partnership comes in celebration of 15 years of collaboration between UNEP FI and BASA, a collaboration dating […]

On 12 May 2016, the Union of Arab Banks became the second institution globally and first regionally to join UNEP FI under the Supporting Institution Status. Following the formalization of the partnership agreement under the Supporting Institutions, UNEP FI partnered with the UAB for the 2016 International Arab Banking Summit that took place in Rome […]

UNEP FI has presented a series of key recommendations to the International Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, recently established by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to enhance climate disclosure practice in line with the requirements of financial actors. Informed by its extensive track record with the financial sector and its expertise on disclosure-related issues, […]

Following the global launch of the Principles for Responsible Banking on 22 September 2019 at the United Nations in New York with 130 banks collectively holding USD 47 trillion in assets signed up, UNEP Finance Initiative together with the Japanese Principles for Financial Action (PFA), a Japan nation-wide sustainable finance forum, held a Japan launch […]

The banking industry is launching the Principles for Responsible Banking on the 23rd of September in New York City. Hosted by the 30 founding banks, the event will bring together banking sector and global thought leaders as well as environmental and development experts to explore the implementation and impact potential of the newly launched Principles for Responsible Banking.

State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and GIZ hosted a UNEP FI’s Principles for Responsible Banking Consultation Workshop in Hanoi, Vietnam. The workshop was chaired by Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Kim Anh, Deputy Governor of the SBV. Over 60 participants including representatives from 17 financial institutions attended. During the workshop, SBV also presented the results from the […]

CIMB Group, one of 28 founding banks of the Principles for Responsible Banking, hosted a Malaysia Responsible Banking Engagement and Sharing Session in collaboration with the Association of Islamic Banking and Financial Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM) and the Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM). Mr. Rafe Haneef, CEO, CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd led the event participated by […]

UNEP Finance Initiative, as a Knowledge Partner, participated in the launch of the Asia Sustainable Finance Initiative on 21 January 2019 in Singapore. Together with CIMB, UNEP FI’s member in Malaysia, it presented on UNEP FI and the Principles for Responsible Banking. The Asia Sustainable Finance Initiative aims to help shift Asia’s financial flows towards sustainable economic, […]

Johannesburg will see the African launch of the world’s first step-by-step guide to help banks conduct a rapid natural capital risk assessment by the Natural Capital Finance Alliance (NCFA).  The guide is produced in collaboration with global audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The guide has already been piloted by five banks, including FirstRand Group and the Development Bank of Southern Africa and promotes the use of the […]

The Natural Capital Finance Alliance, funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the MAVA Foundation, has come up with tools and insights to help practitioners identify material natural capital risks and opportunities within their portfolios and integrate these considerations into financial decision making. The webinar will provide an overview of the recently launched ENCORE tool (Exploring Natural Capital Opportunities, Risks and Exposure). It also marks the official online launch of the NCFA’s latest report produced by PwC, which applies the ENCORE tool to develop a natural capital assessment framework for enhanced portfolio risk management in banks.

This Webinar will discuss the results of a collaboration between sixteen of the world’s leading banks with UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), and climate risk and adaptation advisory firm Acclimatise. The banks set out to develop and test a widely applicable scenario-based approach for estimating the impact of climate change on their corporate lending portfolios as recommended by the Recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Hear directly from the banks, climate consultants and UNEP FI secretariat involved in this project.

Sixteen banks working in collaboration with UNEP FI, risk and investment management experts, and leading scientists have recently published a jointly developed methodology that will enable banks to be more transparent about their exposure to climate-related risks and opportunities, in line with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

Join this webinar to hear more about the methodology for scenario-based assessment of risks and opportunities from the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Building on the success of its Forum in New York, Climate Action is bringing the Sustainable Investment Forum to Europe in March 2018 in partnership with UNEP FI.
The European Forum will welcome 250+ high-level decision-makers from the finance community, European governments and think tanks to meet, network, share ideas and discuss concrete solutions to the current challenges of the European and global climate finance market.

UNEP FI/Ecobanking will conduct an Introductory Environmental and Social Risk Analysis training workshop. This training session will take place in Guayaquill on the 23th of November.

UNEP FI/Ecobanking will conduct an Introductory Environmental and Social Risk Analysis training workshop, in collaboration with ASOBANCA, Ministry of Environment of Ecuador and PNUD. This training session will take place in Quito on the 21th of November.

UNEP FI/Ecobanking will conduct an Introductory Environmental and Social Risk Analysis training workshop, in collaboration with the Egyptian Banking Institute (EBI). This training session will take place in Cairo on the 15th of November.

El Workshop “Financiamiento de Energía Solar Distribuida en Chile: Una gran Oportunidad para la Banca PYME Nacional” se llevará a cabo por la primera vez el 16 de noviembre en Santiago de Chile. El taller es organizado por ONU Medio Ambiente Iniciativa Financiera (UNEP FI), Fundación Chile y Fraunhofer Chile.

UNEP FI supports the Energy Efficient Mortgage Initiative launched last year by the European Mortgage Federation- European Covered Bond Council (EMF-ECBC) which will have its third stakeholder meeting and kick off of the Energy Efficient Mortgages Action Plan on June 9.

The Principles for Positive Impact Finance were launched 19 leading banks and investors totaling $6.6 trillion in assets in Paris on January 30th 2017. The programme of the event is available here.

Read the press release in English and in French.

The Principles for Responsible Banking provide the much-needed framework for the sustainable banking system of the future – and enable the banking industry to demonstrate how it makes a positive contribution to society. They have been developed by a core group of 30 banks from five countries, and are designed to guide any bank – […]

The aim of this Roadmap is to set a vision and lay the groundwork to establish a comprehensive and far-reaching sustainable finance strategy contributing to the Agenda 2030 and towards the objectives of the Paris Agreement. This Roadmap is ambitious in terms of Luxembourg’s contributions to sustainable development and climate action, it is forward looking […]

Outputs of a working group of 16 banks piloting the TCFD Recommendations Part 2: Physical-related risks and opportunities This report is the result of a collaboration between sixteen of the world’s leading banks with UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), and climate risk and adaptation advisory firm Acclimatise. The banks set out to develop and […]

Assessing and reporting on the transition to a low carbon economy is a key area of interest for public- and private-sector banks. In the months preceding the United Nations climate change conference in Paris in 2015, many of the world’s leading banks made commitments to either decrease the financing of “climate problems” or increase the […]

Outputs of a working group of 16 banks piloting the TCFD Recommendations Part I: Transition-related risks and opportunities This report is the result of a collaboration between sixteen of the world’s leading banks with UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), and management consultancies Oliver Wyman and Mercer to pilot scenario-based assessments of transition-related risks and […]

El presente estudio realizado por la Iniciativa Financiera de ONU Medio Ambiente (UNEP FI) y CAF – Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina, muestra el esfuerzo realizado por las instituciones de la banca nacional e internacionales que operan en Ecuador, las cuales integran prácticas de sostenibilidad en sus operaciones, apoyando de esa forma la transición […]

El presente estudio realizado por la Iniciativa Financiera de ONU Ambiente (UNEP FI) y CAF – Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina, muestra el esfuerzo realizado por las instituciones de la banca nacional y de bancos internacionales que operan en Argentina, en su camino hacia el desarrollo sostenible. La muestra de estudio representa aproximadamente el […]

The ‘Drought Stress Testing Tool’ enables banks to assess if a client may be at risk from drought and how drought can affect a sector or region. A clearer understanding of the risk associated with droughts can help build more resilient financial institutions, and by shifting finance to less vulnerable sectors and regions, economies can become […]

El presente estudio realizado por la Iniciativa Financiera de ONU Ambiente (UNEP FI) y CAF – Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina, muestra el esfuerzo realizado por las instituciones de la banca nacional y de bancos internacionales que operan en Chile, en su camino hacia el desarrollo sostenible. La muestra de estudio representa aproximadamente el […]

The Principles for Positive Impact Finance provide guidance for financiers and investors to analyse, monitor and disclose the social, environmental and economic impacts of the financial products and services they deliver. They provide a global framework applicable across different business lines, including retail and wholesale lending, corporate and investment lending, and asset management. The Principles require […]

The Guide to Banking and Sustainability (“Guide”) is a high-level, functional overview of what a sustainable bank looks like from inside and to the outside. Who and what is it meant for? The Guide is first and foremost a tool for banking practitioners themselves. It is meant as an awareness-raising, integration and outreach tool for: […]

Examining banking and human rights from a UN Guiding Principles, hard law and soft law perspective

The Positive Impact Manifesto invites banks and other financial sector players to think more holistically about their role in the economy, society and the broader environment, and proposes a ‘Roadmap’ to establishing a new, impact-based and market-driven paradigm: positive impact finance. Positive Impact finance is defined in the Manifesto as “that which verifiably produces a […]

In 2014, the UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL, working with and on behalf of the Banking Environment Initiative – BEI) commissioned a study entitled, “Stability and Sustainability in Banking Reform – Are Environmental Risks Missing in Basel III?“. The study was conceived in recognition of […]

In 2014, UNEP FI undertook a research project on Basel III and environmental risk in collaboration with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), the Banking & Environment Initiative (BEI) and supported by Bloomberg LP. The result of this work has been the release of the report Stability & Sustainability in Banking Reform: Are Environmental […]

The most far-reaching study on sustainability in the Latin American banking sector ever undertaken

Understanding and Implementing Sustainability in your Bank based on the UNEP Statement of Commitment by Financial Institutions on Sustainable Development

A review of the business case, loan conditions and current practice in financial institutions

Examines the uptake of sustainable finance in Africa’s largest financial hubs – South Africa and Nigeria

Explores the opportunities and barriers of the inclusion of ESG-issues in private banking.

Does climate change pose a risk to bank loan portfolios? Which debt sectors are most likely to be impacted? What strategies can banks employ to reduce its impact?

Analysis and examples of the finance sector’s role in promoting sustainability in Africa.

The role of the financial sector in Africa in promoting sustainability.