News

Calling civil society groups to join Principles for Responsible Banking advisory body

20 October 2020

Principles for Responsible Banking is first finance sector initiative to put into practice signatories’ commitments to robust accountability and broad engagement with establishment of Civil Society Advisory Body Signatories to the Principles for Responsible Banking commit to proactively consult with their stakeholders and to be transparent about and accountable for their positive and negative impacts […]

Global Roundtable Day 2: From sustainable finance market practice to regulatory horizons

15 October 2020

UNEP FI kicked off Day 2 of its Global Roundtable with another day full of high-level keynotes, plenaries, regional focused panels and technical sessions with over 3,000 delegates. Launches included resources to support TCFD implementation. UNEP’s Executive Director Inger Anderson said finance industry and its future profitability and our very own survival need natural systems. […]

Stellar Speakers and New Launches at Day 1 of UNEP FI’s Global Roundtable

13 October 2020

UNEP FI saw more than 2500 participants join Day 1 of its 16th Global Roundtable, held virtually for the first time ever, under the theme “Financing a Resilient Future”. The stellar line-up of speakers was led by Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General, United Nations, who gave the opening keynote address by reminding participants that sustainable […]

Driving the shift to circular economies: new report on role of finance industry

13 October 2020

Financial institutions can and must make the shift to circularity, ensuring the consumption and production patterns of the businesses they invest in make more efficient use of resources and minimize waste, pollution and carbon emissions. This is the conclusion of our new report Financing Circularity: Demystifying Finance for the Circular Economy. Launched today at UNEP FI’s […]

Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance sets unprecedented 5-year portfolio decarbonization targets

13 October 2020

Thirty of the world’s largest investors with $5 trillion assets under management have collectively agreed on concrete portfolio decarbonization targets that follow the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 1.5 °C scenario for the next five years. UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance members will implement deep greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions in the 16% to 29% […]

UK’s largest company pension BT Pension Scheme is 30th Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance member

7 October 2020

BT Pension Scheme (BT PS), the UK’s largest company pension scheme, today becomes the thirtieth member of the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, bringing total assets under management to $5 trillion. The announcement came as BT PS said it has committed to an ambitious new goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions (scope 1-3 emissions*) […]

European Commission appoints Platform on Sustainable Finance, includes UNEP FI

1 October 2020

The European Commission published today the list of members of the Platform on Sustainable Finance, which includes UNEP FI. The Platform brings together experts from civil society organizations, academia, and the business and finance sector to develop sustainable finance policies and tools to tackle the urgency of the sustainability transition. For the next 2 years the […]

Keeping up with the Kiwis on climate risk disclosure

29 September 2020

New Zealand mandates climate-related risk disclosure Momentum continues to build on climate-risk disclosure across the globe, with New Zealand’s finance minister, James Shaw, announcing legislation, which will make the country the first to require large financial institutions to disclose their climate-related risk. Many other jurisdictions have introduced guidelines and are looking at further climate-related risk […]

Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Gathers Momentum

25 September 2020

Efforts to establish a Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) have today passed an important milestone with the announcement of an Informal Working Group (IWG) comprising some of the world’s biggest banks, investors and companies, as well as governments and regulatory bodies.

Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance – Sustainable Investment Forum North America

25 September 2020

UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance kicks off Sustainable Investment Forum North America Members of the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance and its Chair, Guenther Thallinger, launched the virtual Sustainable Investment Forum North America (SIF NA) – a collaboration between UNEP FI and Climate Action. The largest climate finance event during New York Climate Week – […]

Transition Check: New Online Tool to Assess Transition Risk

24 September 2020

UNEP FI and Oliver Wyman launch ‘Transition Check’, a web-tool that takes a scenario-based approach for assessing transition risk. As businesses consider the impacts of climate change on their long-term sustainability, it has remained difficult to measure such risks – until now. Introducing Transition Check, a web-tool that takes a scenario-based approach for assessing transition […]

UN Principles for Responsible Banking – One Year On: Progress on Impementation

21 September 2020

One year on: Coalition of signatory banks, civil society shares progress implementing the UN Principles for Responsible Banking   Exactly one year ago, on 22 September 2019, more than 130 banks in the presence of the UN Secretary General signed the first-ever global sustainability framework for the banking industry: the UN Principles for Responsible Banking. […]

UNEP FI launches “Charting a New Climate”, a report on physical climate risks and opportunities from Phase II of its TCFD Banking Programme

8 September 2020

8 September 2020 – UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) has released a report on physical climate risks and opportunities from Phase II of its Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Banking Programme with climate risk advisory and analytics firm, Acclimatise. The report, “Charting a New Climate”, provides a state-of-the-art blueprint to support […]

Cbus is first Australian member of UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance

31 August 2020

Australian building and construction industry pension fund Cbus has announced its membership of the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance. The fund is the first Australian asset owner to join the Alliance, bringing membership to 29 managing nearly US$5 trillion in assets. “Cbus recognizes that to decarbonize the global economy in line with the Paris Agreement […]

The David Rockefeller Fund joins the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance

3 August 2020

The UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance welcomes the David Rockefeller Fund to its membership. The Fund becomes the 28th member of the Alliance, which now has combined assets under management (AUM) of nearly $5 trillion. The Alliance was launched by 12 members with AUM of $2.4 trillion in September 2019. Nili Gilbert, David Rockefeller Fund Trustee & […]