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May
2011
   
  

THE HIGHLIGHT

GordonBrownFormer UK Premier Gordon Brown to speak on financial stability at UNEP FI Global Roundtable

 

GordonBrownFormer UK Prime Minister and current Member of Parliament Gordon Brown will address global financial leaders during the UNEP FI Global Roundtable meeting on financial sustainability to take place in Washington D.C. this October.


Mr Brown, widely respected as the global leader who rallied the world's financial policy-makers to respond collectively to the financial crisis of September 2008, will speak on financial stability, systemic risk and sustainability.

 

"With the full effects of the crash yet to be played out, we need to return the world to the high water mark of global cooperation achieved at the London G20 summit. That degree of coordination must be the beginning and not the end of what we achieve," the former UK PM and longtime Chancellor of the Exchequer explained.

 

"By kick-starting this engagement on issues of systemic risk and financial sustainability with the United Nations community, my hope is to contribute to defining the new kind of thinking and action that we must embrace to address the challenges of a global economy when climate change, resource scarcity, commodity price volatility and income inequality, amongst other ongoing concerns, will set the future context for our finance sector and global capital markets," Mr Brown said.

 

Other confirmed speakers at the GRT include Nassim Taleb, author of the best-selling book The Black Swan, and James Balsillie, co-CEO of Research in Motion.

 

Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to hear, and debate, their views on tomorrow's economy.


More information here.

Global Roundtable logo 

RECENT EVENTS

REDDySetGrowLondonFinancial leaders call for investor-friendly forest-carbon market

 

Leading financial institutions discussed the importance of their role in mitigating climate change as they called for more effective forest-carbon regulations on the occasion of a UNEP FI report launch at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch's

European headquarters in London on 6 May. 

 

Over 200 participants, including banking, insurance and investment senior representatives, welcomed the findings of the new study, REDDy - Set - Grow: Opportunities and roles of financial institutions in forest-carbon markets, which

stresses that the financial sector must step up its engagement 

Launch of REDDy - Set - Grow study
Launch of REDDy - Set - Grow study

in a recently developed mechanism to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, known as Reduced Emissions from Deforestations and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries, or REDD+.

 

Governments successfully agreed in Cancun last December to making REDD+ a core component of what could possibly constitute the next global regime on climate change. To date, the question of how this global mechanism will be implemented and financed remains unresolved, and will be a critical subject of future UN climate convention negotiations - including upcoming talks in Durban, South Africa.

 

The commitment of the private sector and financial institutions toward the implementation of REDD+ is crucial, the UNEP FI study says, since the overall investment needed for implementation of REDD+ activities exceeds public capabilities and will thus largely hinge on action from the private sector.

 

A follow-up report of REDDy - Set - Grow specifically geared for policy-makers and containing recommendations on the design of forest-carbon policies will be released in June.

 

More information here.

New study urges integration of environmental metrics for property investment industry

 

Metrics report coverEnvironmental property metrics users and suppliers must bridge the gap that separates them to successfully measure the environmental performance of property portfolios and related improvement activities, according to a new UNEP FI study.

 

The report, An Investors' Perspective on Environmental Metrics for Property, concludes a year-long consultation process among UNEP FI's Property Working Group members and other relevant stakeholders.

 

"With this position paper, we want to introduce the idea that hurdles on the road to more effective environmental metrics are twofold: industry leaders must better coordinate their work, while users could benefit from improved information sharing on the issue," said UNEP FI's head Paul Clements-Hunt.

 

Environmental metrics are commonly used by property managers and owners to quantify the environmental performance of buildings or progress being made to improve them.

 

More information here.

UPCOMING UNEP FI EVENTS

From Cancun to Durban: UNEP FI bridges public-private divide at Bonn climate talks

Bonn conference

 

In parallel to the upcoming 2011 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations in Bonn, Germany, UNEP FI will hold a series of side-events designed to bridge the public-private divide in current efforts to address climate change.

 

While the need to mobilise the private sector - including financial institutions and investors - for the design of a successful global climate change regime is generally agreed, private sector participation into international climate talks has been minimal so far.

 

With crucial such negotiations to take place in June, UNEP FI hopes to bring together industry representatives and international policy makers and to close the gap between them with a series of activities and meetings designed for that purpose.

 

Planned activities include a workshop on the private finance in the challenge of mobilising capital for climate change mitigation efforts, as well as a meeting on novel ways to address loss and damages risks in a changing environment.

 

Results on the ongoing consultation on a follow-up report to the recently launched REDDy-Set-Grow study will also be shared during a side-event event.

 

More information here.

New online course explores energy efficiency in buildings from finance perspective

 

A new UNEP FI online course on energy efficiency financing in buildings will be made publicly available for the first time from 13 June to 1 July, following a pilot edition last year.

 

Entitled "Energy Efficiency Financing in Buildings," the new course promotes the transition towards a low-carbon economy by introducing lenders to the development of financial products and services for energy efficiency projects, specifically in relation to buildings.

 

Credit analysts, product developers and other interested stakeholders are welcome to fill in their application forms as soon as possible, with spots filling up fast.

 

More information here         

 INCAE logoProyecto EcobankingLogo BASEgiz logo

Environmental and Social Risk Analysis Advanced Workshops in Australia, June 2011

 

UNEP FI and Ecobanking convene for the first time their advanced training workshop on social risk analysis in Australia, with a first training scheduled in Sydney on 6-7 June, and one in Melbourne on 9-10 June.

 

The seminar aims to build the technical capacity of participants to evaluate environmental and social risks generated by clients and/or investment partners-generated by simulating real-life situations.

 

The workshops will be attended by a carefully targeted group of risk managers, credit officers and analysts, as well as sustainability and environmental managers from banks in Australia and New Zealand.   

 

More information here.

Proyecto Ecobanking

Celebrate World Environment Day on 5 June 

 

Whether you're new to World Environment Day (WED) or a loyal supporter, the United Nations Environment Programme welcomes you to what is possibly the biggest WED celebration in history.

 

WED Challenge

Celebrated every year on 5 June, World Environment Day is a principal vehicle through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment, since 1972. WED 2011 is aimed to be the most widely celebrated global day for positive action for the environment.

 

In 2010, UNEP launched the WED Legacy Project, with which it seeks to get as many individuals and organizations as possible to identify an activity or pledge an action.      

 

This year, the WED Legacy features an exciting challenge between the UNEP Goodwill Ambassadors Don Cheadle and Gisele B�ndchen, whereby Gisele pledged to plant one tree for every activity registered in her name, and Don upped the ante with a pledge for two.

 

More information here.

NEWS MEMBERS

New member: UNEP FI welcomes Bancoldex into its fold

 

Bancoldex logoColombian entrepreneurial development and foreign trade bank Bancoldex SA became the latest banking institution to join UNEP FI's swelling ranks in late April.

 

"Over the last decade, it has become gradually clearer to us and our customers that environmental changes have a material impact on our activities. This has required us to step up our engagement toward environmental sustainability. Partnering with UNEP FI was thus a natural step to take, since it feeds into our need to better understand this trend," said CEO Santiago Rojas Arroyo. 

 

Bancoldex was founded in 1991 and is a state-owned, mixed capital corporation.

EVENTS BY OUR PARTNERS

BoA announces ambitious goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions

 

Bank of AmericaBank of America announced earlier this month an ambitious new goal to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 15 percent from 2011 to 2015, based on its 2010 baseline. This goal spans all of the company's global operations in more than 40 countries and builds on its previous GHG reduction of 18 percent between 2004 and 2009.

 

"Reducing our emissions not only lessens the environmental impact of our global operations, but enhances our efficiency and delivers tremendous value for our company and shareholders," said Global Technology and Operations Executive and Bank of America Environmental Council Chair Catherine P. Bessant. 

 

To accomplish its GHG goal, Bank of America will focus on lowering its energy consumption, which counts for 90 per cent of the bank's energy consumption.

Point of contact

For further information, contact communications[at]unepfi.org.
    

Now Available 

Metrics report cover

An Investor's Perspective on Environmental Metrics for Property

REDDy-Set-Grow cover

REDDy - Set -Grow: Opportunities and roles for financial institutions in forest carbon markets


UPCOMING TRAINING  

 

Online Course on Environmental and Social Risk Analysis 

English:

30 May - 17 June

 

Spanish:

1 - 19 August

 

The Environmental and Social Risk Analysis 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.

More information here. 

Introductory Training Workshop on Environmental and Social Risk 

Quito, Ecuador

 2 June

 

The Environmental and Social Risk Analysis Introductory Training aims to sensitize bankers, risk and credit managers on the importance, benefits and techniques to incorporate environmental and social considerations into investment and risk management decision-making.

More information here. 

Top Reports of 

May 

REDDy-Set-Grow cover

REDDy - Set -Grow: Opportunities and roles for financial institutions in forest carbon markets 

  

Advancing_Adaptation_cover

 

Advancing Adaptation through Climate Information Services  

 

 fiduciary responsibility  

 

  Fiduciary Responsibility: Legal and practical aspects of integrating environmental, social and governance issues into institutional investment

 

In this newsletter...
- Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister and current member of Parliament -

 

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- Abyd Karmali, Managing Director and Global Head of Carbon Markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch -

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