Partnership between United Nations Environment and the global financial sector to promote sustainable finance
Latest thinking from UNEP FI’s Property Working Group on ESG, managing COVID-19, and post-crisis recovery.
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 public and private sector experts to develop sustainable finance policies and tools to tackle the urgency of the sustainability transition. In particular, the platform will advise the Commission on the development of of […]
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 […]
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.
25 September 2020
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 – “Mobilising sustainable investment towards a 1.5-degree world” – saw keynotes by Eric Usher, […]
24 September 2020
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 risk and the potential impact of climate change on corporate lending portfolios within an overall framework consistent with the […]
21 September 2020
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. Signatories commit to align their business strategy and practice with the Sustainable Development Goals and the goals of […]
11 September 2020
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 […]
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 […]
7 August 2020
Seventy eight banks from 11 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean recently took part in the first region-wide survey on how the banks are incorporating climate change into their risk management. The study sample represents 54% of the total assets of the Latin America and Caribbean market. It showcases the level of knowledge, […]
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 & […]
20 July 2020
17 July 2020
16 July 2020
In a major step forward for the UN’s Principles for Responsible Banking, its current signatories and members of UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) have voted for a new governance structure, agreed individual and collective progress review processes, as well as a process for dealing with signatories who fail to deliver on their commitments. The […]
14 July 2020
In July 2020, the European Commission closed its stakeholder consultation on its Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy, which will be adopted by year-end. The Commission’s proposal recognizes that the scale of investment necessary for a timely, just and sustainable transition goes beyond the capacity of the public sector and needs to include the private sector as […]
13 July 2020
In collaboration with The Generation Foundation and the Principles for Responsible Investment, UNEP FI recently launched the project A Legal Framework for Impact, which aims to make the consideration of sustainability impact in investor decision making a core part of investment activity within the decade. In this episode of the PRI podcast, and the second […]
10 July 2020
The United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) has joined the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, becoming the 27th member. The Office of Investment Management said in a statement: “As a pension fund with long-term investment horizons and liabilities, UNJSPF is vulnerable to the financial impact resulting from both transition and physical risks caused by […]
30 June 2020
New research published today shines a spotlight on the urgent need for financial sector action on biodiversity. The report highlights the need for banks, investors and insurers to set firm targets to reduce biodiversity loss, starting with nine critical sectors where financial players are exposed through their loans, investments or underwriting activities.
19 June 2020
The UN-Convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (AOA), representing $4.75 trillion in assets and many of Europe’s largest pension funds and insurance companies, warmly welcomes the review of the EU’s Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD). AOA members have publicly committed at the CEO level to transitioning their investment portfolios to have net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. […]
18 June 2020
Danica Pension becomes the 26th member of the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (AOA), committing to transitioning its investment portfolio of $68 billion assets under management (AUM) to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. CEO Ole Krogh Petersen said: “As a pension company, our more than DKK 400 billion ($60 billion) assets under management can […]