Partnership between United Nations Environment and the global financial sector to promote sustainable finance
17 May 2022
By The Rev. Kirsten Spalding (Ceres) Chair and Rahnuma Chowdhury (UNEP FI) Manager for the Investor Agenda ICAPs Working Group The latest warnings from the world’s leading scientists urge us to take swift action if we have any chance to prevent the worst effects of the climate crisis. Notably, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change…
8 April 2022
A statement from the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance: As countries face critical choices in their energy strategies, amid heightened geopolitical tension and a rapidly warming climate, governments must ensure that energy security policies are compatible with net-zero scenarios mapped out by the International Energy Agency (IEA) or the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).…
7 April 2022
The UN-Convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance releases a high-level paper outlining a forward-looking, systematic stewardship approach for investors that seeks to mitigate the existential risk of climate change. This stewardship approach focuses on how investors can leverage multiple tools of engagement to support changes to economic realities that align with a transition to a 1.5C…
30 March 2022
This blog highlights the need for high-level climate pledges to be accompanied by net zero targets and detailed climate action plans and suggests ways for investors to turn bold pledges into action in 2022.
29 March 2022
Investors have both a profound responsibility and a huge stake in the maintenance of a sound financial system. International frameworks set out the plan to preserve and enhance those systems but the global investment sector is currently not holding up its end of the deal. The project “A Legal Framework for Impact” is clarifying the legal responsibilities of investors to consider the sustainability impact of their decision-making and explains how policymakers can deliver legal frameworks that support sustainable economies.
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…
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…
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…
11 November 2021
Upon the release of the draft COP26 decision, Guenther Thallinger, Chair of the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, made the following statement: “COP26 can be the start of a multi-year platform for accelerating policy action. The new Glasgow pledges and initiatives do represent progress, yet these are not sufficient to avoid dangerous climate change. Asset…
2 November 2021
In response to the Reclaim Finance report, “It’s Not What You Say, It’s What you Do”, the Chair of the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance Günther Thallinger says: “The Alliance is looking for active and constructive dialogue with civil society so that its members can enable the implementation of the crucial transition to a 1.5°C…
29 October 2021
In the first two blogs in this series, I wrote about the UN Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) and the ongoing dance between the private and public sector that is ratcheting up sustainability ambitions. Today, I finish up this pre-COP series by considering how significant the net-zero objective has become for the finance industry, and…
20 October 2021
Less than two weeks away from COP26, the UN-Convened Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance launches its inaugural, biennial Progress Report, highlighting that 29 of its member investors have committed to reducing portfolio emissions by 25-30% by 2025 across three asset classes. This range is higher than the targets set by the inaugural Target Setting Protocol,…
15 October 2021
Three Japanese insurance companies joined the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, adding a combined US$1.4 trillion to total assets under management (AUM) and total membership of 53. Japan’s Nippon Life, Sumitomo Life, and Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance announced their membership, committing to net-zero portfolios by 2050 and establishing interim targets every five years in line…
14 October 2021
Members of the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance invite the public to comment on new additions and revisions to the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance Protocol for inclusion in a second version which will be released in Q1 2022. This Consultation is open until 29 October 2021. READ THE PROTOCOL AND SUBMIT YOUR INPUT
30 September 2021
The UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance today welcomed the French and Swiss insurance associations as supporting partners. The Swiss Insurance Association (SIA) said in a statement that the long-term orientation of their members’ business models makes it virtually incumbent on insurers to help drive forward sustainability. In their investment policy in particular, the SIA’s member…
23 September 2021
Asset owners must immediately scale investment into impactful carbon management and negative emissions technologies both inside and outside of value chains, according to a new position paper from the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance. Following the recent special report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Alliance recognizes that fostering rapid and deep…
14 September 2021
14 September 2021 – In the run-up to the most consequential United Nations climate change conference in years, and on the heels of another urgent warning from the world’s leading scientists, a record number of 587 investors with US$46 trillion in assets under management are urging governments to rapidly implement five priority policy actions…
16 August 2021
Geneva 16 August 2021 – A new report investigating the extent that real estate markets are pricing in risk from the physical impacts of climate change has been published today. In line with increasing investor and regulator requests for forward-looking analyses of assets and portfolios, the authors sought to better understand the variables that can…
9 August 2021
As we learned today from the IPCC, climate-related risks – for our planet and our communities – are increasing faster than expected, as the current trajectory in global carbon emissions is rapidly exceeding our estimated carbon budget. The delay for global action and fast transition of the economy is getting us farther from our objective of…
21 July 2021
New research provides a legal framework for institutional investors internationally as they seek to address key environmental and social sustainability challenges, and sets out the opportunities for policy reform 21 July, LONDON – Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (Freshfields) has today released a new report, A Legal Framework for Impact, commissioned by The Generation Foundation, the United…