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.

The COP26 Finance Coalition Coordination Mechanism (FCCM) will help to ensure that financial institutions’ climate-related objectives are coordinated at global, regional and country level.  UNEP FI’s involvement in the coalition will be to ensure that our flagship initiatives – the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) and the Principles for Responsible Banking’s Collective Commitment to Climate Action (CCCA) – are aligned with the high-level objective for private finance at COP26, to align financial institutions’ core businesses with a 2050 net-zero pathway. The COP26 platform will not only provide greater visibility for institutions joining these initiatives, but will also drive uptake of net-zero commitments, such as the NZAOA and the CCCA. The coalition will also drive greater ambition from financial institutions on climate-risk assessment and disclosure, which UNEP FI has been at the forefront of leading since our first pilot of the recommendations of the TCFD for banks in 2017.  Coordination will also address the financing gap for climate adaptation, highlighted in our own report on the finance sector’s role in building resilience.

Eric Usher, Head of UNEP FI, supports greater coordination on climate ambition: “Antonio Guterres’ State of the Planet speech earlier this month provided a timely reminder of the need to align all public and private financial flows with the objectives of the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals. In the lead-up to Glasgow, it will be critically important to bring together global financial initiatives on climate change under the Financial Coalition Coordination Mechanism. Strong coordination will strengthen our outreach and encourage more financial institutions to align their businesses with the net-zero emissions trajectory, through such initiatives as the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance and the Principles for Responsible Banking Climate Pledge.”

UNEP FI coordinates bi-weekly with the COP26 Secretariat and partner organisations in the FCCM, sharing latest news on developments in climate-related initiatives across the financial sector, aligning outreach strategy and sharing information on key events in the run-up to COP26 and on the summit itself.

You can find more on the COP26 Finance Coalition Coordination Mechanism here, or contact Remco Fischer or Paul Smith for more information.