Partnership between United Nations Environment and the global financial sector to promote sustainable finance
17 February 2021
Geneva, 17 February 2021 – Transition risk poses a significant near-term threat to the economy. This is one of the findings released today in the latest set of three UNEP Finance Initiative reports on climate risk management tools for financial institutions. The latest guidance is the result of a leading-edge project that convened 39 banks…
16 February 2021
The UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance has issued a call to asset managers to collaborate in driving the development of blended finance vehicles, with the aim of drastically ramping up investment in climate solutions. One working area of the Alliance is focused on financing transition of the real economy, which focuses on identifying priority investment…
11 February 2021
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called on investors who move much of the world’s money to set increasingly ambitious targets and adopt specific plans for achieving net-zero carbon emissions. “The private sector has a crucial role to play in building a more equitable and sustainable world. Our simple objective for 2021 is to make sure…
UNEP FI is continuing its partnership with EIT Climate-KIC to bring some of the world’s leading thinkers to contribute to a series of thought leadership papers. Our aim is to inspire financial actors worldwide to move from risk to alignment, challenge current assumptions around climate alignment and develop ideas and concepts on how alignment can…
2 February 2021
This foundational report maps ocean finance, revealing trends in lending, underwriting and investment activities which impact the ocean .It includes survey results across 100+ financial professionals revealing current trends, frameworks and financial instruments that are successfully addressing ocean sustainability and highlights new opportunities and gaps in the market. The report covers 5 key ocean sectors: seafood, ports, shipping, coastal and marine tourism and marine renewable energy, notably offshore wind, chosen for their established connection with private finance.
1 February 2021
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called on investors who move much of the world’s money to set increasingly ambitious targets and adopt specific plans for achieving net-zero carbon emissions. “The private sector has a crucial role to play in building a more equitable and sustainable world. Our simple objective for 2021 is to make sure…
26 January 2021
UNEP FI and the European Banking Federation (EBF) have launched a unique report assessing the extent to which the EU Taxonomy on Sustainable Activities could be applied to core banking products for labelling or disclosure purposes. This report is the result of a project with 26 major banks, seven banking associations and five observing organisations…
25 January 2021
Ten UNEP FI members are calling for greater action to boost adaptation finance and have made commitments on climate risk reporting. At the Climate Adaptation Summit 2021, the leading financial institutions delivered a statement calling for greater action on assessment, reporting and management of the physical risks of climate change, and asking policy makers to deliver mandatory disclosure requirements on climate risk.
21 January 2021
Biodiversity is catching up with climate on the global policy agenda, motivating leading financial institutions to understand their impacts and dependencies on nature. A first step for financial institutions is to look at the impacts and dependencies on nature across the industries they invest in, lend to or insure.
20 January 2021
A new report provides the first in-depth analysis of sustainable finance practices in a part of the world most vulnerable to the effects of climate change: the Arab region. Issues such as water scarcity, rising sea levels, drought, land degradation and desertification will have serious repercussions for food, energy and water security in this area. Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals – in particular those that help deal with the interlinked water-energy-food challenges – will be key to build resilient, fairer economies.
19 January 2021
A group of 22 leading insurers and reinsurers convened by UNEP FI has published the first comprehensive guidance for the insurance industry to identify and disclose the impact of climate change on their businesses.
13 January 2021
The UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance publishes the final Inaugural 2025 Target Setting Protocol, as individual members begin setting their own 2025 decarbonization targets, to ensure a transition to net-zero emissions by 2050.
12 January 2021
The 2021 edition of the Young Banker of the Year Competition, the most prestigious annual event for leading young bankers, was launched today by the Chartered Banker Institute, and is supported by United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). This year, for the first time in its 30 plus years history, the competition will be truly global, with the Chartered Banker Institute inviting nominations from its 30,000 members, and more widely across the globe from individuals and international banking institutions (including building societies, credit unions and fintechs).
7 January 2021
As members of the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (AoA), we welcome and commend important advancements in the recently-released 2020 World Energy Outlook – in particular, the first-ever inclusion of a net zero by 2050 case to supplement the Sustainable Development Scenario. To help enable a rapid and smooth global transition to net zero emissions by 2050 it is vital that this scenario is expanded into a more robust, comprehensive and central scenario in next year’s iteration of the WEO.
22 December 2020
In this op-ed originally published for The Economist Group’s World Ocean Initiative, Eric Usher, Head of UNEP FI, calls for a transformational shift in private finance to regenerate ocean health. A healthy ocean is one of the critical success factors in the global economy. Prior to covid-19, the value of the blue economy was an…
14 December 2020
On the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement, UNEP FI announced its membership of a group of leading finance coalitions that will coordinate their efforts to secure high ambition commitments from private finance institutions by COP26 in November 2021. The coalition will support the COP26 presidency and the Race to Zero in mobilising action across the finance sector.
11 December 2020
With calls to ‘build back better’ after the COVID-19 pandemic, how can insurance companies take a leadership role in transitioning ocean sectors towards sustainability? The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) assembled a star line-up for a webinar hosting a big-picture discussion on the key ocean-related sustainability trends that affect the insurance business.…
10 December 2020
Despite one of the most challenging years in living memory for businesses around the globe, including financial institutions, UNEP FI and our members continued to work together throughout 2020 towards crafting a more sustainable financial system.
10 December 2020
COP26 Champions welcome study as enabling rapid net-zero transition Geneva, 10 December 2020 – Based on the 2019 One Earth Climate Model (OECM) by the Institute for Sustainable Futures at University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sectoral Pathways to Net Zero maps out possible 1.5 °C pathways for five key high-emitting sectors: energy, utilities, materials in…
8 December 2020
Today, UNEP FI published a summary of the first reporting from the 38 banks who are signatories to the Collective Commitment to Climate Action (CCCA), the most ambitious global banking sector initiative supporting the transition to a net zero economy by 2050.