The objectives of each session are now available online.

If you are interested in attending the GRT, please pre-register on the website, www.unepfi.org/grt.

UNEP FI is convening parties and fostering collaboration within and outside UNEP on Energy Efficiency in buildings and its financing, to develop a cross-cutting topic for the Initiative. 

Energy Efficiency Financing has been identified by UNEP FI as a high impact cross-cutting priority topic to work on. It is a natural development following its historical involvement on climate change. Banks, Investors as well as Insurers, all represented at UNEP FI, have an important part to play. Energy Efficiency (EE)  represents a concrete and material way to actively limit energy use and CO2 emissions, for developed countries with a significant inventory of inefficient buildings and infrastructures, as well as for emerging economies with high development needs. It is often considered the low hanging fruit, although not noticeably developed at a large scale so far. Financing is key in scaling up EE, although not the only factor. 

UNEP FI's work focuses on buildings, in order to leverage on UNEP FI Property Working Group's expertise. Buildings have also been retained due to their high energy use, and the opportunity of co-benefits their renovation represents for countries: the creation of local jobs, the contribution to countries' energy security and more resilient development/growth. 

EE has become a hot topic due to rising energy prices and related importations by countries. In Europe, the European Commission produced last fall a Directive setting an obligation for European countries to present a national plan. In that context, UNEP FI has seized the opportunity offered by this Directive to bring policy-makers and FIs together to discuss on EE financing barriers and possible solutions for buildings in Europe. A workshop is expected to take place late June in Brussels. It will be organised with UNEP / Energy Branch and the International Energy Agency (IEA).

For further information, please contact annie.degen [at] unep.org 

PRIAC members also discussed the branding of the PRI, and approved the use of the name PRI instead of UNPRI, no longer allowed. This change was made to reflect the status of the PRI, not a UN entity, but supported since its creation by its two UN partners, UNEP FI and UNGC.

The PRI from now on should be presented only as either:

• UN-supported (rather than UN-backed); or
• An "investor initiative in partnership with UNEP FI and the UNGC"

For those who are planning on using the branding of the PRI (in an event, interview or in any report), please ensure this change is taken into account, as well as in existing references on web sites. PRIAC members will do their best efforts for the proper references to be used for the PRI.

For more information, please contact the UNEP FI secretariat.

The Sustainable Finance Forum brought together various actors from the sustainable finance scene in Turkey to discuss existing responsible finance practices in the country, reveal the gaps and challenges that need to be addressed to upscale the financial sector contribution to sustainable development in Turkey and put forward recommendations for action in this area. The Forum was co-organized by the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Turkey, the UNEP Finance Initiative and the UN Global Compact Network Turkey, with the support of Garanti Bank and Şekerbank.

                              

The Centre for Environment and Development in the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE), the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) co-organized a launching workshop of the "Green Economy Scoping Study for Egypt" at in the Intercontinental Citystars, Cairo.

The workshop's aim was to map the main possibilities as well as challenges of prompting a green economy in four key sectors of the Egyptian economy: Agriculture, Water, Energy and Waste Management.

Interventions by UNEP, EEAA (the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency), KfW and the National Bank of Egypt all highlighted the role of Finance as a key ingredient if a transition towards a Green Economy in Egypt.

More information here.

World Environment Day 5 June, 2013

The theme for this year's World Environment Day celebrations is Think.Eat.Save. Think.Eat.Save is an anti-food waste and food loss campaign that encourages you to reduce your foodprint. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), every year 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted. This is equivalent to the same amount produced in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, 1 in every 7 people in the world go to bed hungry and more than 20,000 children under the age of 5 die daily from hunger. 

More information here.

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

ESRA Training Team, Paris, January 2013

More information and registration here.

A group of professionals from 15 Turkish banks, as well as from the consultancy and development finance community were trained during a one-day workshop on Environmental and Social Risk Analysis. The participants improved their understanding of the exposure of finance institutions to social and environmental risks as a consequence of the activities of their clients, and strengthened their skills to analyze these risks in lending projects. 

Beside learning how to detect, evaluate and mitigate environmental and social risks, the participants benefited from experience-sharing from Société Générale and Garanti Bank on these banks' approaches to environmental and social risk management. The workshop was kindly sponsored by Garanti Bank. 

Ghana, Accra, April 2013

UNEP FI organized for the first time an Introductory Environmental and Social Risk Analysis training workshop in Ghana. The workshop was hosted by the Ghana Association of Bankers with support from our member Ecobank.

The workshop was convened with the aim of sensitizing bankers, risk & credit managers and other relevant parties across the financial sector, on the importance, effective techniques and consequential benefits of incorporating environmental and social considerations into their investment and risk management decision-making.

More information here.

India, Mumbai, April 2013  

43rd General Assembly of ALIDE in Mendoza, Argentina

43rd General Assembly of ALIDE

Gabriela Moya, Latin American Task Force Coordinator, gave a presentation to the technical committee of environment and climate finance. The crucial role of development banks in financing a green economy was highlighted. Access to funds like the Green Climate Fund and innovative ways of using financial instruments to support sustainable finance projects will be part of the committee's agenda. 

The Environment and Social Risk analysis remains a very important element to be addressed and UNEP FI will continue to provide capacity building towards this aim.

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