Naturally does it. Natural Capital Declaration paves the way to Rio+20

The tally of CEOs who endorsed the Natural Capital Declaration (NCD) grew to 15 this month, with Standard Chartered, UniCredit, and Sovereign being the latest to ink the document. 

The NCD is convened by UNEP FI in collaboration with the UK-based Global Canopy Programme, and Brazilian education center Fundacao Getulio Vargas.

Ivo Mulder, UNEP FI's Secretariat to the NCD, traveled to Sao Paulo in March to present the NCD, and said: "This encouraging development illustrates just how financial institutions are endorsing the concept of natural capital and their readiness to play their part in sustainability."

The NCD is a declaration by the financial sector demonstrating their commitment at the Rio+ 20 Earth Summit to work towards integrating Natural Capital considerations into the financial products and services. 

More information here.

Principles for Sustainable Insurance getting ready for launch at Rio+20

The much-awaited UNEP FI Principles for Sustainable Insurance, or UNEP FI-PSI, will soon be launched at Rio+20.

In 2011, UNEP FI obtained global input on the PSI by convening pioneering consultation meetings in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, and Oceania. The meetings engaged over 500 senior representatives from the insurance industry, government and regulators, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, business and industry associations, academia and the scientific community.

"The Principles aim to strengthen the insurance industry's contribution to building a resilient, inclusive and sustainable society. They support the aims of Rio+20 and show how the insurance industry, government and other stakeholders can work together to shape a sustainable future," said Butch Bacani, who leads the PSI Initiative at UNEP FI.

The PSI provide a global, voluntary and aspirational framework to better consider and manage risks and opportunities in the insurance business associated with environmental, social and governance issues.

More information soon.

UNEP FI has partnered with the online environmental bookstore Earthprint for the distribution of its publications. 

Hardcopies of any UNEP FI publication can now be ordered through Earthprint's portal: www.earthprint.com.

Launched in 1999, Earthprint specializes in the sell and distribution of reports dealing with every aspect of the environment, from waste management to health, and urban environment to finance. 

To purchase a hard copy of our latest report Financing Renewable Energy in Developing Countries, please click here.

More information here.

UNEP FI's seminal CEO Briefing Demystifying Materiality is now available to French and Spanish speakers.

Initially published in 2010, the relevance of the concise publication on natural capital has not waned, with the issue forecasted to be among topics discussed at the upcoming Rio de Janeiro UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20.

Demystifying Materiality is designed to brief financial sector employees and other interested audiences on and how natural capital can be hardwired into financial products and services. It includes results from a survey among financial institutions on the financial sector's perceived exposure to biodiversity and ecosystem services risks.

Full download here.

UNEP FI on road to Rio+20

All eyes turn to the milestone United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, this June.

UNEP FI will be a party to Rio as well, with a series of events under preparation.

15-18 June, Windsor Barra Hotel, Rio de Janeiro: Organized by the UN Global Compact in partnership with UNEP, the Corporate Sustainability Forum is the official private sector platform of Rio+20. 

UNEP FI will hold two sessions during the Forum:

17 June: "Green Gold: Financing the way forward" will offer insights on how banks, insurers and investors support green business, technologies and industry and the transition to a green economy. The session will be underpinned by the finance chapter of UNEP's Green Economy Report.

17 June: "From 1992 to 2012: Twenty years of sustainability mainstreaming in the financial sector" will highlight progress and trends in embedding sustainability issues into financial institutions' daily business strategies and operations. It will assess the last 20 years and evaluate challenges going forward.

Furthemore, on 16 June, UNEP FI will co-convene, with UNEP and the Global Compact, a series of discussions on mobilizing private finance for the up-scaled deployment of sustainable energy technologies, with a focus on developing countries. The context for this discussion is the current International Year of Sustainable Energy for All.

Launch of the Natural Capital Declaration

18 June, Windsor Barra Hotel, Rio de Janeiro: UNEP FI and partners will kick off the Natural Capital Declaration - a statement of commitment on the integration of natural capital criteria into financial products and services - in parallel to Rio+20. This event will gather senior executives who will discuss the growing relevance of this issue for their institutions, both from a strategic and day-to-day basis.

Climate Change: Risks and Opportunities for the Finance Sector Online Course

Next course: 7 to 28 May (English)

Registration is now open for the Climate Change: Risks and Opportunities for the Finance Sector Online Course! 

Responding to the need to better understand the impacts of this phenomenon, this course equips participants with a fundamental understanding of the science behind climate change, the architecture of the international climate change regime, and how financial markets - across banking, investment and insurance - can cope with the resulting risks and seize the opportunities.

More information and registration here.

Next courses: 14 May to 1 June (English) / 11-29 June (Spanish)

Register now for the Environmental and Social Risk Analysis (ESRA) Online Course! 

This course is an interactive educational experience that runs over a three-week period.  It 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 and registration here.

Next course: 11 to 29 June (Spanish)

Register now for the Energy Efficiency Financing in Buildings Online Course! 

The objective of this training course is to promote the transition towards a low-carbon economy through the financing and investment in energy efficiency projects, especially in the sector of property.

More information and registration here.

Flagship green Mexican bank CIBanco entered the UNEP FI community in mid-March by signing the UNEP FI Statement on Sustainable Development.

"We feel proud to be the first green bank of Mexico and join a community of over 200 institutions and three dozen members in Latin America with one common interest: to identify the best sustainable practices for financial operations," said CIBanco's Chairman of the Board of Directors Jorge Rangel de Alba. "We share the vision of this great family of the global financial sector that favors sustainable finance development," he said.

Nigeria's largest bank by market capitalization, Guaranty Trust Bank, stepped up its relationships with the United Nations in early March by becoming the UNEP Finance Initiative's latest member institution.

Guaranty Trust Bank's activities span all countries of Anglophone West Africa, making its commitment to UNEP FI's Statement on Sustainable Development - the partnership's backbone - a significant step toward the mainstreaming of sustainability in that region.

Monthly top downloads

CEO Briefing - Demystifying Materiality: Hardwiring biodiversity and ecosystem services into finance

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