Partnership between United Nations Environment and the global financial sector to promote sustainable finance
12 January 2022
This original article was published on Forbes and can be found here By David Carlin, TCFD Programme Lead, UNEP FI Worldwide energy price shocks, crop and water shortages, migration from low-lying areas, and increasing trade tensions. These are just some of the climate-related challenges societies will confront in coming years. Financial actors are increasingly looking…
12 January 2022
To generate worldwide momentum that will lead to more institutional investors implementing bold climate action plans, the Investor Agenda published today a set of case studies highlighting the leading best practices for Investor Climate Action Plans (ICAPs). The ten investors featured in the case studies are from 5 continents and include Allianz (Germany), Aware…
11 January 2022
The Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance and Convergence Blended Finance announce the signing of a collaboration agreement to increase investment in climate and net-zero solutions in emerging and frontier markets. The 66 members of the Alliance manage more than US$10 trillion in assets under management and are in the process of transitioning their portfolios to net-zero…
23 December 2021
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22 December 2021
The UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance was launched at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in 2019 and only celebrated its second anniversary in September 2021. However, faced with the gargantuan task of decarbonizing their portfolios and the real economy by 2050, Alliance members doubled in 2021 and quickly became leaders in net-zero finance. In…
20 December 2021
The UNEP FI Regional Roundtable for Europe was held virtually on 10 and 11 November 2021 alongside COP26, and welcomed 600+ attendees and 30+ speakers to help define the role of banking, insurance and investment in shaping ambitious responsible and sustainable strategies to proactively address the challenges and opportunities of a green recovery whilst transitioning…
20 December 2021
On 13 December, the senior leaders of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance’s Steering Group convened for the Alliance’s first annual Principals Meeting, wherein they reviewed the progress of the last year and made plans for 2022.
17 December 2021
The UNEP FI Regional Roundtable for North America was held virtually as part of the first Sustainable Finance Summit with Finance Montreal on 4-8 October 2021. The event welcomed 600+ delegates and 30+ speakers to help define the role of banking, insurance and investment in shaping ambitious responsible and sustainable strategies to proactively address the…
17 December 2021
By Laxmi Aeshwarya Kumar, Project Specialist, UNEP FI, and Freya Bannochie, Policy Analyst, UK, PRI The COP26 summit in Glasgow has brought the climate crisis sharply into focus. In order to deliver on the Paris Agreement, all factions of industry and society must work together to sufficiently limit global warming to 1.5°C. This year’s COP has…
15 December 2021
Since March 2021, the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), the Agence Française de Développement Group (AFD and Expertise France, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) delivered five online training workshops on “Integrating climate-related financial risks” in the Eastern Caribbean region, with a aim to prompt the development and implementation of climate-related regulations.
14 December 2021
The blue (ocean) economy offers many opportunities for private finance to lend and invest in a sustainable and nature-positive way. Here we look at some of the leading examples of best practice in social and environmental sustainability across the coastal and marine tourism sector which banks, insurers and investors can seek out.
9 December 2021
Read Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP’s speech on the global biodiversity funding gap, and why negotiators finalizing the Global Biodiversity Framework can help to unlock private and public finance at a massive scale by setting the enabling environment for alignment of finance to nature. Includes what the climate space has taught us about using alignment to shift finance and the need to focus on action in food systems which will be particularly critical.
8 December 2021
The climate clock was ticking loudly in 2021. With every region of the globe impacted by climate change, expectations were high for COP26 which took place in Glasgow in November. The outcomes of the most anticipated climate conference since Paris were not as ambitious as required and left the goal of keeping global warming to 1.5C on life support. However, it came during a year when commitments to finance a net-zero economy were made by financial institutions from around the world – many of them from within the UNEP FI family.
8 December 2021
Statement by Günther Thallinger, Allianz SE Board Member and Chair UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, on the Sunrise Project publication – Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance Climate Voting Transparency and Benchmarking Report. We welcome analysis of our approach, even though we find that it focuses on a very narrow part of our work. We certainly see these…
6 December 2021
The Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) serve as a global framework for the insurance industry to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities. The global collaborative initiative strengthens the industry’s contribution as risk managers, insurers and investors to building resilient, inclusive and sustainable communities and economies on a healthy planet. Launched at the…
3 December 2021
In November 2021 the UNEP FI Leadership Council convened 20 CEOs of banks and insurers across six continents to debate how to further mainstream sustainable finance and accelerate the pace and scale of action worldwide. The wide-ranging discussion focused on disclosure of risks and impacts, and how institutions across the sector can intensify efforts to…
2 December 2021
A group of 28 banks under the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) has founded a first-of-its-kind commitment to promote universal financial inclusion and foster a banking sector that supports the financial health of customers. This marks the start of a collective journey to accelerate action on financial health and inclusion, alongside some other critical topics of our times, such as climate change, nature loss and pollution.
29 November 2021
Emerging markets may need up to US $1 trillion a year to build a net-zero economy, yet developed nations have so far even struggled to deliver on a target of US$100bn climate finance. The UN-convened Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance released a Scaling Blended Finance discussion paper investigating obstacles to investing in climate solutions in…
25 November 2021
UNEP FI’s Climate Lead, Remco Fischer reviews the outcomes of COP26 and explains why ultimate climate success or failure depends on leadership from the private and the public sectors coming together, synergising, feeding and boosting each other to create a determined drive of economic decarbonisation. He also highlights the important role of the net-zero finance alliances…
25 November 2021
On the heels of COP 26 and amidst the pandemic when society, business and the environment are at a critical juncture between recovery and crisis, the UNEP FI Leadership Council met for the first time, bringing together CEOs of banks and insurers to further mobilise the financial sector and deepen sustainability integration across the industry.