Investment

There is a clear and urgent need to explore and advance an investor’s role in delivering on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.

Progress will scarcely be achieved without the active involvement of investment institutions in considering the extensive environmental and social challenges our planet and people are facing. Investors have demonstrated their ability to accelerate the transition towards a resource-efficient and inclusive economy and are progressively stepping up their support for the sustainable development agenda.

UNEP FI works across the environmental, social and finance nexus with over 40 leading institutional investors and asset managers committed to considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues as part of their business principles, strategies and operations. With the historic adoption of the Paris Agreement and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UNEP FI investment members are committed to help finance and achieve a sustainable and green economy and society.

The UNEP FI Investment Offering is guided by the Investment Committee. The Investment Committee works with UNEP FI members to generate tools and research, and to promote more transparent and sustainable business and investment practices. It engages policymakers and regulators to identify and tackle regulatory barriers to sustainable investment.

UNEP FI Investment Committee

2021 Investment Offering

U.N.-Convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance

The United Nations-Convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance consists of 33 institutional investors committed to transitioning their investment portfolios to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This joint effort by UNEP FI and UN PRI represents $5.1 trillion assets under management and shows united investor action in aligning portfolios with the 1. 5°C scenario, addressing Article 2.1c of the Paris Agreement.

Legal Framework for Impact

Launched in January 2019, A Legal Framework for Impact seeks to understand and analyse how investors can manage their fiduciary duty and sustainability impact duties as well as what happens if they are in conflict.

Positive Impact

The Positive Impact Finance Initiative seeks to address the SDGs financing gap, specifically on the lack of market clarity and the lack of business (supply of bankable assets).

Investor Agenda

The Investor Agenda brings together the UNEP Finance Initiative with six of its key strategic partners from around the globe to implement and promote actions that meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement and address the climate challenge.

Please check MENU ACTIVITIES to see a full list of projects

Past Programmes/Projects

Contact

Jes Andrews
Lead, Investment Practice
jesica.andrews@un.org

Investment News

7 January 2021

Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance: Statement on the need for a fully developed IEA 1.5°C scenario

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.

10 December 2020

One Earth Climate Model plots possible course for real economy to meet Paris 1.5 °C scenario

COP26 Champions welcome study as enabling rapid net-zero transition Geneva, 10 December 2020 – Based on the 2019 One Earth Climate Model (OECM) by the Institute for Sustainable Futures at University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sectoral Pathways to Net Zero maps out possible 1.5 °C pathways for five key high-emitting sectors: energy, utilities, materials in…

18 November 2020

U.N.-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance adds members managing combined $200 billion assets

The United Nations-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance has added three new members with combined assets under management (AUM) of $200 billion, committing to transition their investment portfolios to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Announced at the 19th November Race to Zero Dialogues Finance Day, the new members are: Denmark’s P+, Pension Fund for Academics;…

6 November 2020

U.N.-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance publishes Thermal Coal Position

Members of the 30-strong UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance have published their position on thermal coal, calling for the cancellation of all new thermal coal projects, a phase-out of all unabated existing coal-fired electricity generation and a cessation of the financing, development and planning of further thermal coal power plants. In its Thermal Coal Position,…

13 October 2020

Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance sets unprecedented 5-year portfolio decarbonization targets

Thirty of the world’s largest investors with $5 trillion assets under management have collectively agreed on concrete portfolio decarbonization targets that follow the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 1.5 °C scenario for the next five years. UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance members will implement deep greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions in the 16% to 29%…

7 October 2020

UK’s largest company pension BT Pension Scheme is 30th Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance member

BT Pension Scheme (BT PS), the UK’s largest company pension scheme, today becomes the thirtieth member of the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, bringing total assets under management to $5 trillion. The announcement came as BT PS said it has committed to an ambitious new goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions (scope 1-3 emissions*)…

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Investment Events

22 January 2020 | 13.30 - 14.00 in the Media Village at the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland

Press conference at WEF 2020: How are financial giants engaging with investee companies to catalyse shift to a net-zero-carbon economy?

Join us in Davos at the World Economic Forum 2020 for a media briefing via live link which will see the announcement of an important milestone in the development of the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, as the sixteen members welcome another influential and well-known investor to their mission to decarbonize the economy. Find out how the Alliance will be engaging with the companies it is investing into to ensure their portfolios are net-zero carbon by 2050.

22 November 2019 | London, 15:00 GMT

Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century Final Report Launch – London

Join UNEP FI and the PRI for the London final report launch of the Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century programme on Friday, November 22, at 1500 GMT, hosted by The Generation Foundation. The Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century programme was launched in 2016 to end the debate on whether fiduciary duty is a legitimate barrier to the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in investment practice and decision-making. Over the past four years, the programme has produced extensive evidence on the subject and has advocated for global policy reform to clarify fiduciaries’ duties to their beneficiaries.

9 October 2019 | Tokyo, Japan

ESG Real Estate Investment Japan Seminar

UNEP Finance Initiative together with the Japanese Principles for Financial Action (PFA), a Japan nation-wide sustainable finance forum, held a seminar on ESG investments in real estate. Taking the opportunity of the visit to Japan by the UNEP FI’s Property Working Group Co-Chair Anna Murray, Vice President, Sustainable Investing, BentallGreenOak, the Working Group members in…

21 October 2019 | New York City, 3pm-5pm

Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century Final Report Launch, NYC

Join UNEP FI and the PRI to discuss the evolution to the modern interpretation of fiduciary duty, which includes the consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues - from a legal case to regulatory clarification.

17 October 2019 | Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington DC 2pm-5pm

Sustainable Finance Policy Summit – DC

Join UNEP FI and the PRI along with senior policymakers, regulatory affairs professionals and investment professionals to discuss responsible investment policy reforms in the US and around the world.

11-12 June 2019

RI Europe

UNEP FI is pleased to support this annual two-day conference which provides a unique opportunity to learn, share and debate responsible investment issues with 700+ investment professionals from across the globe. Engage with Europe’s largest investors on key themes affecting local markets and the rest of the world. Thought-leaders from across the institutional investment sector as well as academic researchers will come together to debate key issues.

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Investment Publications

The Climate Risk Landscape: Mapping Climate-related Financial Risk Assessment Methodologies

The Climate Risk Landscape: Mapping Climate-related Financial Risk Assessment Methodologies provides a summary of the key developments across third party climate risk assessment providers since May 2019, including new and updated scenarios, methodological tools, key guidelines, as well as an overview of the changing regulatory landscape and potential developments into 2021. This report covers both…

Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century programme: Final Activity Report 2015-2019

This report summarises the research and outreach activities carried out under the Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century programme, convened by UNEP FI and the PRI, with the generous financial support of The Generation Foundation. The final report on Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century presents the conclusions of the 4-year research and detailed analysis…

Changing Course: Real Estate – TCFD pilot project report and investor guide to scenario-based climate risk assessment in Real Estate Portfolios

Twelve institutional investors from eight countries, convened by UNEP FI and supported by Carbon Delta, have worked throughout 2018–2019 to analyse, evaluate, and test, state-of-the- art methodologies to enable 1.5°C, 2°C, and 3°C scenario-based analysis of their direct property investment portfolios in line with the recommendations of the FSB’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures…

Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century Final Report

A new report from UNEP FI and the PRI launched in New York on Monday 21 October 2019 at an investor roundtable. This latest report, which affirms that fiduciary duty requires the incorporation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes, is the final installment of the four-year Fiduciary Duty…

ESG data in China: recommendations for primary ESG indicators

    A new joint report by UNEP FI, PRI and SynTao Green Finance, launched in Shanghai on June 5, 2019, provides recommendations for China’s ESG disclosure framework, prepared by its financial regulators. This report is a follow-up from the Investor Duties and ESG Integration in China, and part of the Fiduciary Duty in the…

Changing Course: A comprehensive investor guide to scenario-based methods for climate risk assessment, in response to the TCFD

Twenty institutional investors from eleven countries, convened by UNEP FI and supported by Carbon Delta, have worked throughout 2018–2019 to analyse, evaluate, and test, state-of-the-art methodologies to enable 1.5°C, 2°C, and 3°C scenario-based analysis of their portfolios in line with the recommendations of the FSB’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The outputs and…

Global ESG Real Estate Investment Survey Results

In late 2018, a global survey was conducted to better understand how the attitudes, strategies, and practices of real estate investors, and fund and asset managers are incorporating Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria, and the degree to which they may need to strengthen their commitments so that their portfolios are aligned with the objectives of the Paris Agreement. More than…

Positive Impact Real Estate Investment Framework

The UNEP FI Property Working Group, in collaboration with RICS, PRI, and members of the Global Investor Coalition on Climate Change, have produced a practical, action-oriented framework to accelerate a new financing paradigm for the delivery of the global SDGs. The 25 leading institutional investors and asset managers of the UNEP FI Property Working Group…

Aligning investors with sustainable finance: a focus on the OECD

UNEP FI, the PRI and The Generation Foundation have published a report focusing on the policy work of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on sustainable finance and investment. This briefing makes recommendations to the OECD to align policy work on the financial sector with globally agreed sustainable development objectives, such as the…

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