With just under two weeks to go until the start of the 2013 Sustainable Finance Week (SFW) and the biennial UNEP FI Global Roundtable (GRT), I would like to thank everyone for their support so far, and for their commitment to Sustainable Finance. It is this support, that will change finance and finance change.
After every GRT, UNEP FI goes from strength to strength, and the 2013 GRT is no exception. With a programme that is undoubtedly the most exciting one we have prepared in our 21 year history, I can hardly wait to listen to the ideas, debates and strategies that will be nurtured out of the week in Beijing.
If you still need to register, or are interested in any of the sessions taking place, please take a look at our GRT website.
In this newsletter, we would like to share with you some of the projects UNEP FI is continually working on, such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative (SSEI). If any of UNEP FI’s activities are of interest to you, I encourage you to contact the Secretariat so we can facilitate your involvement.
Back in July, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to commemorate NYSE Euronext joining the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative which is conveyed by UNEP FI together with UN Global Compact, UNCTAD and the PRI. The SSEI explores how exchanges can work together with investors, regulators, and companies to enhance corporate transparency on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues and encourage responsible long-term approaches to investment.
As a continuation to the SSE activities, Focus Session 3 of the upcoming GRT in beijing will invite speakers to weigh in on topics relating to the integration of sustainability into capital markets through sustainable stock exchanges.
New Guidance Will Help Financial Institutions Measure Emissions from Lending and Investment Portfolios
In 2013, only six percent of financial companies in the FTSE Global 500 reported any emissions associated with lending and investment portfolios to CDP. To address this gap, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) and UNEP FI have begun developing guidance to help financial intermediaries assess the emissions from their lending and investments portfolios. In October, UNEP FI and WRI hosted the first Advisory Committee meeting on Greenhouse Gas Protocol Financial Sector Guidance to begin the guidance development process. The guidance will be a supplement to GHG Protocol’s Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard.
1st congress of Economy and Banking for Latin America with FELABAN and BROU
UNEP FI convened a session on sustainable finance for the 1st congress of Economy and Banking for Latin America with FELABAN (the Latin American Federation of Banks) and BROU, held from the 2-3 of September in Montevideo, Uruguay. The congress highlighted the economic roles, opportunities and challenges for the region in which the sustainability agenda will play an important role.
The panel was moderated by Gabriela Moya, UNEP FI, and Denise Hills, UNEP FI, LATF Co-Chair from Itaú, explained the journey and evolution of the topic, how it makes business sense and the importance of implementing environment and social risk systems for credit lending as well as the increasing returns of sustainability investments. Mario Sergio Fernandes de Vasconcellos, FEBRABAN, highlighted the role of the banking association in Brazil in advancing the sustainable finance agenda and main topics such as regulation, risk mitigation, opportunities, knowledge creation and capacity building. To wrap up, Constanza Gorleri, sustainability director of Banco Galicia, emphasized the important role of reporting and the use of GRI guidelines.
Call for Increased Focus on Carbon Risk Management and Carbon Accounting in Investment Industry
UNEP FI launched a new Investor Briefing that explains why and how institutional investors should start measuring, disclosing and reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with their investments and investment portfolios. The launch event was generously hosted by Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London.
The Briefing argues that carbon footprinting is one of several key tools that investors should use to understand, assess and mitigate portfolio carbon risk, identifies existing best practice on how investors can achieve this and lays the foundations for the development of a new market standard to measure and report financed emissions.
The UNEP FI Global Roundtable will be held in Beijing, China, on the 12-13 November, 2013, under the theme Financing the Future We Want: China, Emerging Markets and the World Economy.
If you are interested in attending the GRT, please register on the website,www.unepfi.org/grt.
———————————————————————-
2013 Sustainable Finance Week (SFW)
The inaugural Sustainable Finance Week (SFW) will be held from 10-15 November, 2013, in Beijing, China.
The Sustainable Finance Week is convened by the UNEP Finance Initiative and brings together the key players and thinkers of the Sustainable Finance Community for a week of discussions.
We encourage everyone to browse through the unique events that make up the 2013 Sustainable Finance Week at www.unepfi.org/sfw.
———————————————————————-
UNEP FI convenes finance track at first-ever UN-led conference on business and climate change at COP 19 in Warsaw, Poland
UNEP FI, through its CCAG, is the lead convenor of the entire finance track at the first-ever UN-led conference on business and climate change: the Business Forum convened by UNEP, the UNFCCC Secretariat, and the UN Global Compact.
As such, this high-level and high-profile meeting enables UNEP FI to show-case its projects and areas of focus in this thematic domain including:
The ESRA Training Programme aims to educate employees of local, regional and international financial institutions with a focus on emerging markets in the identification, analysis and management of environmental and social risks generated through their lending and investment activities.
The ESRA Training Programme is made up of four distinct trainings:
1. Introductory Workshop
2. Online Course
3. Lab Workshop
4. Advanced Workshop
Should you wish to have more information on the ESRA Training Programme, please feel free to contact us at training [at] unepfi.org
World Forum on Natural Capital, 21-22 November, Edinburgh
The inaugural World Forum on Natural Capital will be the first major global conference on natural capital. It will build on the significant private sector interest shown at the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio in June 2012 and the many developments that have taken place since.
A briefing on why and how investors should measure, disclose, and manage the GHG embedded in investments and portfolios
A set of Principles that aim to serve as the global framework for insurance companies to better manage environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities in their core business strategies and operations
This report provides preliminary guidance on how the four commitments in the Natural Capital Declaration can be implemented by the finance industry
The Highlight
