Partnership between United Nations Environment and the global financial sector to promote sustainable finance
21 January 2021
Biodiversity is catching up with climate on the global policy agenda, motivating leading financial institutions to understand their impacts and dependencies on nature. A first step for financial institutions is to look at the impacts and dependencies on nature across the industries they invest in, lend to or insure.
22 December 2020
In this op-ed originally published for The Economist Group’s World Ocean Initiative, Eric Usher, Head of UNEP FI, calls for a transformational shift in private finance to regenerate ocean health. A healthy ocean is one of the critical success factors in the global economy. Prior to covid-19, the value of the blue economy was an…
11 December 2020
With calls to ‘build back better’ after the COVID-19 pandemic, how can insurance companies take a leadership role in transitioning ocean sectors towards sustainability? The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) assembled a star line-up for a webinar hosting a big-picture discussion on the key ocean-related sustainability trends that affect the insurance business.…
3 December 2020
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.
20 November 2020
The Norwegian financial group said it had signed the United Nations-backed Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles, a guiding framework launched in 2018 for financing a sustainable ocean economy. Storebrand – one of Norway’s main occupational and personal pension providers – said the framework aimed to accelerate the transition towards sustainable use of the ocean and its resources by developing practical actions for insurers, lenders and investors to undertake.
12 November 2020
Financial institutions in Colombia, Peru and South Africa are beginning to tackle nature-related risks, exemplifying a trend across emerging markets Risks linked to nature loss are rising up the finance sector agenda across emerging markets. According to a recent Swiss Re report, 40 percent of South Africa is now classified as having fragile ecosystems. Zero…
10 November 2020
American Hellenic Hull Insurance Company announced today that it has signed the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles joining a growing UNEP FI-hosted community of pioneering banks, insurers and investors working to transition the ocean economy towards sustainability. As a marine insurer, American Hellenic Hull Insurance Company provides hull and machinery services to the international shipping…
5 November 2020
The Dutch Central Bank and financial supervisor, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), is the first central bank to highlight biodiversity as a material financial risk In June, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) released a landmark study, ‘Indebted to nature’, which found that Dutch financial institutions alone have EUR 510 billion of exposure to biodiversity risks, like disruption…
28 October 2020
We cannot have a healthy planet without a healthy ocean, and in any global discussion on biodiversity the ocean must be front-and-centre, says Peter Thomson, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean. In his message to the finance industry, Thomson delivers a passionate plea for the preservation of the ocean and stresses its…
27 October 2020
The blue economy is an attractive opportunity for banks and insurance companies, yet some players are rushing to invest without first adopting sustainability principles that can avoid repeating the wrongs of the past, says world-renowned ecologist Enric Sala.
15 October 2020
Eric Usher of the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative and Corli Pretorius of the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre say banks should urgently set targets for financing the protection of nature in the critical next decade in the same way that many have set climate targets
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.
24 September 2020
For financial institutions, addressing biodiversity risk is now a question of sound financial risk management. Leading banks, investors and insurers are setting biodiversity targets, as a first step to reduce their risk exposure. ASN Bank has declared they will have a net positive effect on biodiversity by 2030. Storebrand aims to have an investment portfolio…
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.
5 June 2019
This World Environment Day we investigate the business and ethical cases for reducing air pollution, and present a tool that clears the smog for the finance sector – showing just how much businesses both rely upon and affect the environment. Take a moment and imagine biking through traffic. You pedal briskly on the edge of…
7 May 2019
Few weeks pass without scientists reporting new knowledge of how badly humans are treating our planet, and the consequences for our common future. With the launch of the IPBES report summary for policymakers and a whole host of new and old facts and statistics, one may ask what is different this time? The Intergovernmental Science-Policy…
29 April 2019
Just days after the French and UK central banks issued an urgent warning that climate change constitutes an existential threat to the financial system, the Natural Capital Finance Alliance (NCFA) has launched analysis based on its ground-breaking ENCORE tool. The report analyses the FTSE All-Share Index to see how dependent UK-listed companies are on natural…
15 April 2019
The agricultural sector is one of the sectors most exposed to environmental risk caused by climate change and human degradation of ecosystems. A new template that enables financial institutions to conduct natural capital credit risk assessment across different agricultural sectors and geographies, taking into account factors such as water availability, use and quality; soil health;…
19 February 2019
When Madeleine Ronquest attended the Johannesburg launch of an innovative guide designed to help banks assess their exposure to environmental degradation, a quick look around the room proved it was no longer business as usual in the financial sector. “When I started out there weren’t any environmental or sustainability people in the banks, and (at the launch)…
16 January 2019
A week before the World Economic Forum in Davos, where global financial leaders will discuss society’s most pressing issues, the Natural Capital Finance Alliance (NCFA) has launched the world’s first step-by-step guide to help financial institutions conduct a rapid natural capital risk assessment. The Natural Capital Finance Alliance engaged with PwC to produce the guide.…