As the world moves into 2025, many leaders within the financial industry are calling for a unified, global effort to tackle the looming climate, nature and pollution crises.
At the end of 2024, the Leadership Council, the senior governance body of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), brought together CEOs and Chairpersons from UNEP FI’s key boards to provide strategic direction, shaping the UN’s role in integrating sustainability into financial practices and mobilizing the financial community for a sustainable economy. The 2024 meeting focused primarily on how the sector approaches climate risks and opportunities.
At the meeting, leaders stressed that sharing lessons learned from climate action could help inform solutions for nature and pollution crises. The varied pace of regulatory actions and the importance of stakeholder and client engagement to tackle climate change, nature loss, and pollution were also agreed as factors that could have major impacts on successfully tackling climate, nature and pollution challenges.
Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, who chaired the discussions, emphasized the growing importance of aligning financial systems with sustainability and highlighted the need to cut global emissions by 42% by 2030 to meet net-zero goals by 2050. “Reversing the current trajectory of emissions to a downward trend is critical. It is still mathematically possible and would create significant investment opportunities in energy, industrial, transport, agriculture, and forestry sectors.” Her call for urgent action resonated throughout the gathering, echoing the sentiment of other financial leaders who acknowledge the central role the sector must play in mitigating climate change.
During the meeting, CEOs pressed the need for clear and consistent climate policies aligned with international agreements as well as clarity on carbon pricing and regulation for financial institutions.
The meeting highlighted UNEP FI’s work on developing taxonomies and disclosures to align finance with biodiversity and climate targets as well as the progress in decarbonizing portfolios and mobilizing climate finance made by the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA).
Andersen thanked financial institutions and broader stakeholders who responded to the UN Secretary-General’s call for finance leaders to act on climate, nature and pollution. “Now that we see political winds shifting, I want to ask you to stay with this commitment and to continue the good work that you have been doing. There is a real opportunity now to shift from high-polluting linear economies to resource-efficient, clean technologies and circular models” she said.
The Leadership Council meeting underscored that the window for action is closing rapidly. Leaders during the meeting agreed that in 2025, UNEP FI’s key priorities will be enabling the engagement of policymakers and clients, sharing best practice, and supporting the mobilization of climate finance.
Read the key takeaways to find out more.