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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).

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.

In this op-ed originally published for The Economist Group’s World Ocean Initiative, Eric Usher, Head of UNEP FI, calls for…

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.

With calls to ‘build back better’ after the COVID-19 pandemic, how can insurance companies take a leadership role in transitioning…

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.

COP26 Champions welcome study as enabling rapid net-zero transition Geneva, 10 December 2020 – Based on the 2019 One Earth…

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.

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.

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.