Partnership between United Nations Environment and the global financial sector to promote sustainable finance
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.
4 December 2020
200 banks across 58 countries and 6 continents have now signed UNEP FI’s Principles for Responsible Banking, thereby committing to align their strategy and practice with the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Goals.
3 December 2020
Oceans cover 71% of the world’s surface, giving Earth the befitting title of the ‘Blue Planet’. The ocean is a planetary superpower that sustains the lives of billions of people and countless marine wildlife. For instance, approximately 3 billion individuals globally are dependent on protein from the ocean for food security. This pivotal role in the global economy establishes the ocean as a vitally important asset to underwriting, lending and investment activities, in businesses which either depend on or impact the ocean and its services.
20 November 2020
The Norwegian financial group said it had signed the United Nations-backed Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles, a guiding framework launched in 2018 for financing a sustainable ocean economy. Storebrand – one of Norway’s main occupational and personal pension providers – said the framework aimed to accelerate the transition towards sustainable use of the ocean and its resources by developing practical actions for insurers, lenders and investors to undertake.
18 November 2020
The United Nations-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance has added three new members with combined assets under management (AUM) of $200 billion, committing to transition their investment portfolios to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Announced at the 19th November Race to Zero Dialogues Finance Day, the new members are: Denmark’s P+, Pension Fund for Academics;…
17 November 2020
UNEP FI TCFD Banking Pilot Projects NEW for 2021: Phase III Phase III of the TCFD banking pilot is expected to commence in January 2021. This pilot will more fully explore climate stress testing, the integration of physical and transition risk assessments, and sector-specific risks and opportunities. If you are interested in participating in Phase…
12 November 2020
Financial institutions in Colombia, Peru and South Africa are beginning to tackle nature-related risks, exemplifying a trend across emerging markets Risks linked to nature loss are rising up the finance sector agenda across emerging markets. According to a recent Swiss Re report, 40 percent of South Africa is now classified as having fragile ecosystems. Zero…
10 November 2020
American Hellenic Hull Insurance Company announced today that it has signed the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles joining a growing UNEP FI-hosted community of pioneering banks, insurers and investors working to transition the ocean economy towards sustainability. As a marine insurer, American Hellenic Hull Insurance Company provides hull and machinery services to the international shipping…
6 November 2020
Members of the 30-strong UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance have published their position on thermal coal, calling for the cancellation of all new thermal coal projects, a phase-out of all unabated existing coal-fired electricity generation and a cessation of the financing, development and planning of further thermal coal power plants. In its Thermal Coal Position,…