Financing a Sustainable Future – Strategies, Partnerships, and Opportunities

14-15 March, 2002 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Ten years after the Earth Summit…on the road to the WSSD in Johannesburg, UNEP FI returned to Rio de Janeiro for its 2002 Global Roundtable. The Roundtable attracted over 300 participants from all continents and provided them with an opportunity to interact with key players and global leaders in finance, insurance, and sustainability. Over the two days of the conference, challenges and opportunities for sustainable finance were identified and new partnerships forged, on global as well as regional level. Plenary sessions with compelling speakers from the world’s major financial companies were balanced with interactive workshops on topics as diverse as Microfinance, Venture Capital, and Environment and Security. The well received workshops offered the opportunity to learn about innovative tools and techniques, to share best practice in sustainable finance, and to engage with cutting edge issues for the finance and insurance sectors. In Rio, UNEP FI also had the pleasure to welcome KPA AB, a financial services company from Sweden, as a new signatory. Overall, the Rio Roundtable was a critical stepping stone not only in our work towards the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD), but also as an agenda setting event in terms of the finance community and sustainability. Messages from the Roundtable were taken to the United Nations Financing for Development Conference, which took place in Monterrey, Mexico, March 18-22, and a set of recommendations will be developed by UNEP FI members to feed into the Financing for Development process in the run up to WSSD. UNEP FI wishes to thank the host, BNDES, for their excellent support in the preparations and during the event and ABN AMRO – Banco Real, CAF, Deutsche Bank and HSBC for their sponsorship and support.