05 May 2015 Comunicado de prensa Eficiencia de recursos

Leading Financial Experts and Central Bank Chiefs, Members of UNEP's Inquiry Advisory Council, Call for Alignment of Financial Markets with…

Zurich, 5 May 2015 - The Advisory Council for UNEP's Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System met in Zurich, Tuesday, to review progress and to provide recommendations ahead of the launch of the Inquiry's final report at the 2015 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund in Lima, Peru, next October. The Council is made up of imminent persons from the worlds of finance and sustainability, including Governors of central banks and world-renowned financial experts from around the world.

The UNEP Inquiry, launched in early 2014, is exploring what will potentially be one of the most important changes in our international economic landscape - the reshaping of the global financial system, such that it plays a productive and emphatic role in financing sustainable development.

UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNEP, Achim Steiner, said, "In a year such as 2015 when securing financing for sustainable development, including climate related actions, is such a critical theme and ambition, we hope that the work of UNEP`s Inquiry into the design of sustainable financial systems can contribute. The innovation landscape identified by the Inquiry, and the practical policy solutions it has highlighted and is now codifying for broader use, shows clearly that the opportunity exists to go beyond identifying 'additional resources for sustainable development' in evolving the contours of an international financial system fit for the needs of an inclusive, sustainable, 21st century economy."

Hosting the event in Zurich, the Swiss Government presented a new study entitled, "Design of a Sustainable Financial System", as part of its input into the UNEP Inquiry. Switzerland is represented on the high-level Advisory Council by the Director of the Federal Office for the Environment, Bruno Oberle, who said: "If the world population had the same consumption patterns as Swiss citizens, we would need almost three planets to cover its requirements. A transformation towards an economy that respects planetary boundaries necessitates substantial investment in infrastructure, innovative technologies and smart concepts like the circular economy. Private money must be channelled into investments for a resource efficient future."

The work of the Inquiry in over 15 countries, so far, reveals the need to speed the transition to an inclusive sustainable economy, which requires the channelling of trillions of dollars annually into green investment and many more trillions away from pollutant and natural resource intensive investment.

Meeting this challenge requires the mobilisation of large amounts of private capital. China, for example, with one of the world's strongest fiscal positions, estimates that less than 20% of its incremental green financing needs of US$350 billion dollars annually can be met through the use of public revenues. Yet today's financial systems, including the banks and pension funds, are increasingly financing environmentally damaging investments and inadequate green investments.

The Inquiry's analytic work and engagement has focused on actions taken by central bankers, financial regulators and ministries of finance at the country level, as well as the actions of market actors, such as bankers or institutional investors. The Inquiry has analysed the financial systems of Bangladesh, Colombia, Indonesia and Kenya, as well as Brazil, China, India and South Africa, and leading countries across the OECD including those with major financial centres, such as the UK and the US.

In a marked break with the past, the initial findings of the Inquiry highlight the leading role played by developing nations in this crucial reshaping of the world's financial systems, notably those with major economies and rapidly developing financial and capital markets, for example:

  • Brazil's Central Bank has established environmental risk management requirements for banks, and is working with market actors in establishing how environmental lender liability might improve both environmental outcomes to Brazil and financial returns to banks.
  • China's People's Bank of China has established a Green Finance Task Force, co-convened with the UNEP Inquiry, and has collaborated with dozens of public agencies and market actors to develop 14 sets of proposals for enhancing green financing through policy, regulatory and market innovations.
  • Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (OJK) has delivered the world's first ten year Roadmap for Sustainable Finance.
  • South Africa's stock exchange has led globally in requiring listed companies to report on their sustainability performance and the country's pension fund legislation has led the way in requiring pension fund trustees to take sustainability factors into account while making investment decisions on behalf of intended beneficiaries.
  • Kenya has the world's highest penetration of bankless payment transactions, which has allowed it to achieve the most rapid increase of financial inclusion ever recorded, globally.
  • The UK's Bank of England is the first central bank to initiate a prudential review to explore whether climate change poses a systemic risk to parts of the UK's financial sector.