Science-Based Tools for Financial Institutions

Given the urgent need to take effective climate action and the role of science in developing financial institutions’ transition pathways, FC4S developed a series of webinars to present available instruments that help address the challenges financial institutions face in developing their strategies and aligning their portfolios. This sequence of events aims to familiarize financial professionals with available tools and methodologies that help report, measure, and disclose aspects of sustainable finance strategies.

 

September 14– The TPI tool – the ‘go-to’ corporate climate action benchmark

The UNDP FC4S Network and Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI) invite financial professionals to learn about the TPI tool. It provides robust independent research to empower investors to assess their portfolio alignment with the Paris Agreement’s goals and drive real-world emission reductions through their actions. Its universe covers 479 companies across 16 sectors with a total market cap of USD 10 trillion. Moreover, it provides the Climate Action 100+ Benchmark to assess 167 of the most carbon-intensive and regionally significant companies. Its data has been embedded into the FTSE-TPI Climate Transition Index and is increasingly referenced by London Stock Exchange. TPI has acquired 124 supporters with a combined AUM of $45 trillion.

This global initiative, led by Asset Owners and supported by Asset Managers, Service Providers, and non-profits, assesses companies’ preparedness to transition to a low carbon economy, supporting efforts to address climate change and has published four State of Transition reports.

This webinar will be held in English at two different times, last one hour, and include a Q&A session to allow for direct interactions with the specialist.

 

Speakers

Beata Bienkowska – Deputy Research and Project Lead

 

 

 

Beata is the deputy research lead and project lead for TPI. Beata has over 12 years of experience working across the public sector on a national level and EU institutions, and academia. She recently served as a Programme Manager at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership Accelerator leading the Innovators for Change Acceleration Programme. Prior to this, her focus was on developing policies and dialogues and supporting businesses in the energy, climate, and economics while working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European External Action Service. She holds a postgraduate degree in energy and economics from the Warsaw School of Economics.

 

WATCH BACK

The TPI Tool 1 – Science-based tools webinar series – YouTube

Science-Based Tools for Financial Institutions

Given the urgent need to take effective climate action and the role of science in developing financial institutions’ transition pathways, FC4S developed a series of webinars to present available instruments that help address the challenges financial institutions face in developing their strategies and aligning their portfolios. This sequence of events aims to familiarize financial professionals with available tools and methodologies that help report, measure, and disclose aspects of sustainable finance strategies.

 

July 7 – UNEP FI Holistic Impact Analysis Methodology

In this session, you will learn about the UNEP FI Holistic Impact Analysis Methodology. This approach is a two-step process to understand and manage actual and potential positive and negative impacts across the spectrum of environmental, social, and economic issues. It ensures that interconnections between sustainability topics can be both managed and leveraged. This methodology has been operationalized in the form of a suite of Tools for Holistic Impact Analysis for use by financial intuitions and their clients.

 

Panelists:

Careen Abb

SDGs & Impact, Programme Lead, UNEP Finance Initiative

 Careen leads UNEP FI’s SDGs & Impact work stream, a think-and-do space within UNEP FI focused on closing the $2.5 trillion SDG financing gap.

Careen managed the process leading to the Principles for Positive Impact (PI Principles), released in January 2017 and marking the beginning of the Impact & SDGs work stream at UNEP FI. In 2018 she co-authored Rethinking Impact to Finance the SDGs, which spells out UNEP FI’s unique theory of impact, positing that impact can and will become a core business driver, and advocating for holistic impact analysis and management as the gateway to an impact-based economy.

She has since managed the development of a unique holistic impact management methodology, leading to the release of suite of tools, the Portfolio Impact Analysis Tools, a Corporate and a Real Estate Impact Analysis Tool. The Bank Portfolio Tool is built to support banks in achieving compliance with UNEP FI’s 2019 Principles for Responsible Banking, which further promote an impact-focused approach. She is responsible for managing UNEP FI’s involvement in the Impact Management Platform, of which it is currently the Co-Chair.

Costanza Ghera

SDGs & Impact, Content Manager, UNEP Finance Initiative

Costanza works as a content manager in the SDGs & Impact team at UNEP FI. She focuses on the development of the UNEP FI Holistic Impact Analysis Tools which enable banks, investors and their corporate clients and investee companies to implement a holistic approach to impact analysis and management. Additionally, she closely supports UNEP FI members with the implementation of their impact analysis through workshops, group sessions and bilateral discussions. Prior to joining UNEP FI, she worked at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development as a reporting analyst, at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in the press and communications office and in a couple of environmentally and socially focused NGOs. Her academic background is in Political Science and International Relations, with a specialization in social science and sustainability.

July 7 at 9h CET (East time) – Registration link

July 7 at 17h CET (West time) – Registration link

 

Recent developments, challenges, and opportunities in Biodiversity finance

All stakeholders in financial and capital markets are reckoning with the challenge of Biodiversity Finance from central banks and supervisors, institutional investors, stock exchanges and bond markets, to standard setters, ratings agencies and data providers. The link between climate and biodiversity action is becoming clearer. Climate change is one of the primary drivers of the natural world’s decline but mitigation and adaptation efforts are made considerably more challenging by the continued plundering of natural resources, which in turn causes further destruction of the natural world and exacerbates the climate emergency

May 25th and May 30th

FC4S invites all members to learn about the recent developments in biodiversity finance and explore solutions to overcome nature-related risks in their jurisdictions.

The webinar will go through the published FC4S paper on biodiversity and open the audience to a discussion on how to overcome challenges related to five key facets of biodiversity finance, namely, transparency and disclosure, Fintech, data, financial instruments, nature positive norms.

The webinar will be in English, will last approximately one hour, and include a Q&A Section.

 

Science-Based Tools for Financial Institutions

Given the urgent need to take effective climate action and the role of science in developing financial institutions’ transition pathways, FC4S invites you to a series of webinars presenting available instruments that, scientifically, may help address the challenges that financial institutions are facing. This event aims to help inform and manage the reporting, measurement and disclosing aspects of sustainable finance strategies at the financial institution level by showcasing freely available tools and methodologies.

 

May 16th – Data for ESG Finance

On this occasion, FC4S and Carbon 4 Finance invite financial professionals to learn about the importance of data for ESG finance and how to work with it to be actors of a just transition respectful of Climate and Nature.

Carbon4 Finance provides financial institutions with a complete set of climate and biodiversity data solutions
that allow financial organisations to measure the carbon and biodiversity footprint of their portfolio, assess the alignment with a 2°C-compatible scenario, and measure the impacts that arise from events related to climate change and biodiversity loss.

The panellists will be ensuring the reliability of these instruments, showing how their inputs are based on scientific knowledge and evidence, and demonstrating the impact of their application in the financial sectors.

Considering time differences, each webinar will be held at two different times to make this a global event. The workshops will be in English, will last approximately one hour, and include a Q&A Section.

 

May 16^th at 9h CET (East time) – Registration link

May 16^th at 17h CET (West time) – Registration link

Science-Based Tools for Financial Institutions

 

Given the urgent need to take effective climate action and the role of science in developing financial institutions’ transition pathways, FC4S invites you to a series of webinars presenting available instruments that, scientifically, may help address the challenges that the financial institutions are facing. This event aims to help inform and manage the reporting, measurement and disclosing aspects of sustainable finance strategies at the financial institution level by showcasing freely available tools and methodologies.

 

May 5th – Principles for Climate Aligned Finance

 

On this occasion, FC4S and RMI’s Center for Climate Aligned Finance (CCAF) invite you to learn about the Impact + Principles for Climate Alignes Finance, that help financial institutions identify what matters most when developing climate alignment strategies, and their sectoral approaches such as the Poseidon Principles, and get in touch with their representatives to find out how to use their principles.

The panellists will be ensuring the reliability of these instruments, showing how their inputs are based on scientific knowledge and evidence, and demonstrating the impact of their application in the financial sectors.

Considering time differences, each webinar will be held at two different times to make this a global event. The workshops will be in English, will last approximately one hour, and include a Q&A Section.

 

May 5^th at 9h CET (East time) – Registration link

May 5^th at 17h CET (West time) – Registration link

On March 10th 2022, the UNDP- hosted Financial Centres for Sustainability is hosting a webinar on the key takeaways from the 2021 state of play report, based on the FC4S Annual Assessment Programme (AP), a first of its kind in evaluating the state of sustainable finance across the world’s leading financial centres.

Explore how the FC4S Annual Assessment Programme, has contributed to mapping, measuring, and understanding financial centres’ relative position against best-in-class practices, identifying market failures and barriers that prevent sustainable financial markets from developing.

Register!

A session for Asia, Africa and the Gulf – 9:30 AM CET: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_agOYImM1Sum-L2rax-OCFg

A session for Europe and the Americas: 4:00 PM CET: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_to2SFeEySIKBadec7Ro5Sg

 

Within the framework of the Climate Finance Week, the UN-convened Financial Centres for Sustainability (FC4S) is organizing a public webinar in association with the World Alliance of International Financial Centers (WAIFC) on: “Financial Center on the road to COP26“.

 

They have created a space that will focus on the Sustainable Finance Agenda within Financial Centres, their advances on aligning their portfolios with the zero-carbon transition, and the Paris Alignment, to precede and enrich the COP26 discussions.

 

Event Timing: Wednesday, October 13th at 14.00h CET

 

Register here

FC4S is delighted to invite its financial centres and their associated institutions to a dedicated series of webinars on “Methodologies and tools for Paris Alignment”, which will showcase mainstream and freely available climate finance methodologies and tools for the financial sector and include user experiences with each of them. This series of webinars will focus on three initiatives: PCAF (the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials), SBTi (the Science Based Targets initiative) and PACTA (Paris Agreement Capital Transition Assessment).

Participants will be able to engage with representatives from these climate finance initiatives to fully understand the role that each initiative plays in the overarching process to reach Paris alignment. The main takeaway for participants will be a sense of clarity on what their next steps should be to align their financial institutions with the Paris Agreement.

 

AGENDA

Considering time differences, each webinar will be held at two different times to make this a global event. All of the workshops will be in English, will last approximately one hour, and will include a user experience and a Q&A Section.

 

1st Workshop – Introduction &  PCAF overview.

 

Introduction to the Strategic Framework for Paris Alignment and the interconnectedness of climate initiatives on the path to Paris alignment and PCAF overview.

 

September 22^nd at 17h CET (West time) – Inscription Link

 

September 23^rd 10h CET (East time) – Inscription Link

 

 

2nd Workshop – PACTA overview

 

September 29^th at 17h CET (West time) – Inscription Link

 

September 30^th at 10h CET (East time) – Inscription Link

 

 

3rd Workshop – SBTi overview

 

October 4^th at 17h CET (West time) – Inscription Link

 

October 7^th at 10h CET (East time) – Inscription Link

 

 

ABOUT THE INITIATIVES:

• PCAF is a global partnership of financial institutions that work together to develop and implement a harmonized approach to assess and disclose the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with their loans and investments. More than 110 financial institutions from over 35 countries and representing more than USD$29 trillion in total financial assets have joined the initiative and committed to measuring and disclosing their financed emissions. PCAF participants work together to jointly develop the Global GHG Accounting and Reporting Standard for the Financial Industry, the only universal, standardized, and transparent methodology to measure and disclose the GHG emissions of loans and investments that is built on and marked by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

 

• PACTA has been developed by 2 Degrees Investing Initiative in conjunction with a wide range of partners. It is an open source and free online tool that assesses the alignment of your corporate bond, loans, and listed equities exposure to eight economic sectors, covering roughly 75% of GHG emissions. The tool compares what needs to happen in sectoral climate transition pathways with financial actors’ exposures to companies in these sectors and their 5-year forward looking production plans, allowing for a dynamic, scenario-based and forward-looking approach. The tool is extended by a stress-testing module which assesses the influence on assets’ prices of various climate scenarios. PACTA has also established itself as a model for financial supervisors and central banks to run scenario analysis and climate stress tests.

 

• Science Based Targets (SBTi) develops tools and provides technical assistance to facilitate the adoption of meaningful and ambitious science-based targets. It assesses and approves companies’ targets, helping financial institutions to translate the level of GHG emissions and targets of their investee companies to a Temperature Score and assess their status of emission reduction to build Paris-aligned portfolios. The Temperature ratings aim to translate targets into a single common and intuitive metric linked to the long-term temperature outcomes associated with the ambition of the target, enabling users to rate ambition at various levels.