Author of "Black Swan" to address the UNEP FI Global Roundtable, 19-20 October, Washington D.C.
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Nassim Nicholas Taleb, philosopher, essayist, statistician, and best-selling author (The Black Swan, Fooled by Randomness) will be a keynote speaker at the UNEP FI Global Roundtable in Washington, D.C. He will address the participants at the opening conference plenary, titled: Systems, Stability and Sustainability.
The forthcoming UNEP FI Global Roundtable, bringing together around 600 industry leaders and policymakers just half a year ahead of the landmark United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), will deliver an inspiring, agenda-setting programme. Building on previous successes in Cape Town, Melbourne, New York, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Frankfurt,
the UNEP FI Global Roundtable in Washington will be a perfect opportunity to set the plan for action on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues for the financial services and investment sector.
More information here and registration here.
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LAST PLACES LEFT: UNEP FI's Online Course on Climate Change, 4-25 April
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LAST PLACES LEFT!
50 % DISCOUNT COUPON CODE FOR UNEP FI MEMBERS
The next UNEP FI Online Course on Climate Change: Risks and Opportunities for the Finance Sector will start on 4 April. The course aims to equip financial institution executives with fundamental knowledge on a variety of aspects at the interface of private finance, climate change, and climate regulation, as well as to provide support for the development of effective responses.
More information here.
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Workshop on Environmental and Ecological Risks and Opportunities in the Finance Sector, 4 April, Munich
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UNEP FI, HypoVereinsbanks and the Verein für Umwelt-management und Nachhaltigkeit (VfU) are pleased to invite you to a regional workshop to discuss environmental and ecological
risks and opportunities in the finance sector.
This event will be a crucial stepping stone in the development of key guidance to the finance sector on the incorporation of
 
natural capital as a systemic risk. It will aim to engage all participants in the drafting of and commitment to a 'Natural Capital Statement' through which UNEP FI will seek support from banks and other
financial institutions to commit to embed
biodiversity and
ecosystem service considerations into internal processes, products and services.
More information here.
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Leading banks and UNEP FI to showcase best practices at Beijing forum on sustainability on 19 April
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Global representatives of the banking sector are set to come together at the China Sustainable Banking Forum in Beijing this coming April to exchange experiences on environmental risk management and green lending products and services during a highly anticipated one-day event. The meeting, organized by UNEP FI in collaboration with WWF China and the China Banking Regulatory Commission, comes in response to the recent concerted efforts of Chinese banks to adopt lending and investment practices in line with environmental sustainability principles following the launch of the Chinese government's 2007 Green Credit Policy.
More information: asiapacific[at]unepfi.org.
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REDDy - Set - Grow: London report launch to explore growing forest-carbon finance market
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Registration is now open to attend the launch of a new UNEP FI report on forest-carbon finance, "REDDy - Set - Grow." The event, which is organised in collaboration with the UNEP UN-REDD Programme, takes place at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London on 6 May. Senior representatives from the financial sector (Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas and Allianz), government, and several agencies of the United Nations will discuss risks and opportunities associated with this nascent market, and explore the role responsible financial institutions are expected to play in seizing thevast opportunities, both environmental and economic, offered by forest ecosystems.
According to experts, an estimated investment of $17-33 billion per year is required to halve the current rate of tropical deforestation and support global efforts aimed at holding global temperature rise below 2°C. Without immediate action taken, it is estimated that the global economic cost of climate changed caused by deforestation alone could reach $1 trillion per year. With government budgets heavily constrained, any effective solution will have to consider and integrate the skills and investment of the private sector. Join us as we explore opportunities for green growth.
More information here.
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New study: UNEP FI North American members making strides toward environmental employee engagement
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North American members of UNEP FI are making strides in promoting environmental employee engagement among their institutions, according to a new UNEP FI study released in Toronto, Canada, Thursday 31 March.
The report, entitled "If you ask us...: Making environmental employee engagement happen," wraps up a wide-ranging survey conducted among 20 UNEP FI members over the second half of 2010. Findings point to the recent nature of the engagement phenomenon in North America's corporate culture, and to the current emphasis of members on internal level projects aimed at improving their environmental performance, such as resource conservation initiatives. "If you ask us..." brings to the limelight a set of the industry's best practices, offering unique insight on the challenges that lie ahead on the path to the integration of sustainability in corporate culture.
Download the full report here.
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Environmental and Social Risk Analysis 3rd Advanced Training Workshop successfully convened in Latin America
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A group of 30 risk managers and analysts from Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Colombia gathered at Mexico City's exclusive Club de Banqueros on 17 and 18 March 2011, to attend the latest UNEP FI / Ecobanking training workshop on environmental and social risk (ESRA). Welcomed by Mexican Banking Association Director Juan Carlos Jimenez himself, participants were then trained by Edgar Rojas, Ecobanking Project Manager, and Christopher Wells, Environmental & Social Risk Manager of Santander Brazil.
More information here.
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UPCOMING EVENTS BY OUR PARTNERS
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Countdown begins for world's first climate bond issuance
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 The Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) broke new grounds at the European Wind Energy Association Conference last week in Brussels with the release of an innovative set of environmental integrity standards for green and climate bonds. The standards offer sustainable institutional investors an independent framework with which to verify the environmental integrity of bonds issued to fund low carbon projects. The launch comes ahead of CBI's upcoming issuance of a first-of-its-kind standard-compliant Climate Bond in May, valued to a quarter of a billion dollars.
The Climate Bonds Initiative welcomes comments on the draft standards until 15 April. More information here.
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World Environment Day, 5 June
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Commemorated every year on 5 June, since 1972, World Environment Day is a principal vehicle through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment. This year's theme - Forests: Nature at your Service - underscores the variety of life-sustaining services that forests provide and calls us all to take action to protect these resources and move towards a green economy.
The global host country for 2011 is India, a country in which forests constitute more than 20 percent of geographical land mass.
More information here.
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UPCOMING: Environmental & Social Risk Analysis (ESRA) Online Course
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Spanish:
9 - 27 May
English:
30 May - 17 June
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The Environmental and Social Risk Analysis (ESRA) Online Course runs interactively over a three-week period and is intended specifically for risk managers and analysts in commercial, corporate, investment and retail banking in or dealing with developing countries and emerging markets.
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Partner events
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Sustainable Energy Finance Summer Academy
17-22 July | Frankfurt School
More information here.
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