Partnership between United Nations Environment and the global financial sector to promote sustainable finance
New | The Guidance on Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy Target Setting is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide for banks interested in increasing the sustainable use of resources such as energy, waste, water and raw materials and building a circular economy, where waste and pollution are eliminated, products and materials are kept in use at their…
UNEP FI’s Comprehensive Good Practice Guide to Climate Stress Testing is a detailed user guide for financial institutions looking to understand climate stress testing and develop plans for effectively executing them. It has been created to assist banks, investors and insurers in their climate stress testing journey and should be adapted to meet the needs…
Download the key takeaways from the inaugural meeting of the UNEP FI Leadership Council which convened 20 CEOs of banks and insurers across six continents in November 2021 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…
This report was developed as a resource to inform and support Sri Lanka’s banking sector on possible approaches to green finance product development, including how modest adjustments to lending practices can result in more credit flows to green buildings.
The UN-convened Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance released the Scaling Blended Finance discussion paper investigating obstacles to investing in climate solutions in emerging markets and arguing that blended finance vehicles can provide the necessary structures to help close the existing funding gaps in climate investment globally. Moreover, the paper lays out the potential solutions for…
This report highlights the state of climate risk regulation in Africa’s financial sector and presents an analysis of the financial stability architecture and climate risk initiatives in 12 selected deep-dive countries. It also highlights challenges hindering the integration of climate risk by financial sector authorities in Africa and offers potential areas of support for the key stakeholders in the finance ecosystem.
This report offers a timely assessment of the access to, and the use of, green finance by SMEs in Mauritius. The study by extension evaluates the integration of sustainability in the business operations of SMEs in Mauritius, and explores applicable good practices and lessons from other countries and regions.
This report summarises the actions, activities and achievements of the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance and its members since its establishment in September 2019.
Responsible Banking: Building Foundation is the first collective progress report of the Principles for Responsible Banking signatories. It synthesizes individual reporting from over 200 signatories, providing a status update on their progress in implementing the PRB framework, and thereby taking steps to align their business strategies with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Agreement.
This Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance position paper presents the basis for scaling carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions, including a mix of land-based carbon sinks, nature-based solutions and technological carbon removal approaches, which are essential for alignment to a 1.5°C pathway.
This report provides real estate practitioners and investors support in understanding the physical risks arising from climate change with a specific focus on how these risks affect commercial real estate asset values and prices. It also offers recommendations for next steps by market actors, policy makers and researchers connected with commercial real estate to guide future cross-sector engagement and research.
The report, authored by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and commissioned by PRI, UNEP FI and The Generation Foundation, provides ground-breaking legal analysis on the extent to which legal frameworks enable investors to consider impact in their activities across 11 jurisdictions: the EU, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Japan, South Africa, the Netherlands, UK and the US.
Several milestones in sustainable finance are highlighted in our overview of UNEP FI’s work during the period from July 2019 to December 2020, which provides a summary of initiatives that are helping to transform the financial sector.
The UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance recommends strengthening of current carbon-pricing instruments and regulations across global economy. Explicit mechanisms for escalating binding carbon-price floor and ceiling are detailed in this paper, delivered to G7 and G20 policymakers.
The Financial Sector Guide for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which is geared towards all financial institutions, stakeholders and partners, aims to mobilise financial institutions to ensure a nature positive world, by fostering better understanding of nature’s importance for the financial sector, providing insight on the CBD process. The guide is the first of its kind between the CBD and partner organizations, and the financial sector.
The Guidance on Biodiversity Target Setting is designed for PRB signatories, allowing banks to take a systematic approach to setting and achieving biodiversity targets. The guidance presents three real-life case studies, and includes a detailed how-to guide and has been developed by 30 PRB signatories, UNEP FI, UNEP-WCMC and the Science-based Targets Network (SBTN).
The Real Estate Impact Analysis Tool was developed to enable financial institutions to holistically identify and assess the impacts associated with real estate investments and portfolios. There are multiple use cases for this kind of analysis, including: decision-making and due diligence in the context of asset acquisition; fund/portfolio review and management; impact target-setting as well as impact & SDG reporting.
Based on the market-first practical guidance for financial institutions, Turning the Tide, UNEP FI’s recommended exclusions list for a sustainable blue economy provides financial institutions with an overview of activities to exclude from financing due to their damaging impact on the ocean and high risk.
The Investment Portfolio Impact Analysis Tool was developed to enable financial institutions to holistically identify and assess the impacts associated with their investment portfolios. It requires users to input data about the nature, content and context of their portfolios. A set of in-built impact mappings is then combined with this data to help users identify the most…
UNEP FI’s Property Working Group has partnered with the Center for Active Design and BentallGreenOak (BGO) to conduct the largest health and wellness study of global real estate investment managers.