Webinar I Why are financial institutions focusing on the alignment of counterparties?

Webinars - By : Alice PAUTHIER

 

The Paris Agreement has strengthened the call to the financial community to provide an essential contribution to climate action. To date, the focus of alignment efforts has principally been on what is financed – i.e. the individual projects or business activities. However, financial institutions of all types have recently been expanding the focus from the alignment of what is financed to also include an assessment of the alignment of who is financed. In response, in December 2020, marking the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, and in the follow up of the Finance in Common SummitUNEP FI and the Climate Action in Financial Institutions Initiative are convening an informal FI Group on Aligning Financial Chains with the Paris Agreement.

 

The FI Group aims to share knowledge, experience and best practices, discuss emerging trends and develop possible guidance on how to advance the alignment of financial chains, from capital markets, corporate banking and institutional investors to development banks, commercial bank intermediaries and to the project/corporate level.

 

The FI Group brought together on a voluntary and open basis interested financial institutions via a series of webinars for group exchange, peer learning and joint problem solving around three questions:

 

  • WHY financial institutions who committed to be “Paris aligned” have identified a need to focus on counterparties?
  • HOW are financial institutions assessing the alignment of counterparties?
  • WHAT are financial institutions doing with counterparties’ alignment assessments results, at strategic and/or operational levels?

 

 

Overview of the webinar:

This first webinar organized by the FI Group on Aligning Financial Chains with the Paris Agreement will focus on the reasons WHY financial institutions who committed to be “Paris aligned” have identified a need to focus on counterparties – and the initial steps they are taking to do so.

 

This webinar was an opportunity for FI professionals from strategy and climate/sustainability departments to hear the insights of and exchange with peers from financial institutions from across the financial community.

 

This webinar was opened to all financial institutions with a shared interest and ambition, no matter their level of progress in developing and implementing alignment approaches. It is open to representatives from individual institutions, including institutional investors (pension funds and insurers) such as those involved in the AOA, commercial banks taking part in the CCCA, public development banks such as MDBs and IDFC members, supporting institutions of the Climate Action in Financial Institutions initiative, and other interested financial entities and stakeholders.

 

Provisional Agenda:

 

13:00-13:05: Welcome remarks & Agenda

Representative, Climate Action in Financial Institutions Initiative

 

13:05-13:15: Keynote speech

Dharshan Wignarajah, Deputy Director, Finance and Resilience, COP26 Presidency (TBC)

 

13:15-14:15: Panel discussion “Why are financial institutions of all types increasingly focusing on the alignment of counterparties?”

  • Camille LAURENS-VILLAIN, Climate Finance Lead – Strategy Department, French Development Agency
  • Amal-Lee AMIN, Climate Change Director, CDC Group
  • Toni BALLABRIGA TORREGUITART, Global Head of Responsible Business, BBVA
  • Simon CONNELL, Global Head, Sustainability Strategy, Standard Chartered Bank
  • Speaker TBD – European Investment Bank
  • PensionDanmark (TBC)

 

Representatives of financial institutions from across the financial community will share insights on their experience in this area, focusing on:

 

  • why is the counterparty / client level important?
  • how are they currently approaching counterparty alignment assessments and an initial scoping of the challenges?
  • what shared work could the FI Group facilitate to advance joint practice in this area?

 

14:15-14:25: Q&A with Webinar Participants

 

14:25-14:30: Concluding remarks and road forward
Eric Usher, Head of UNEP FI

01 Jul 2021

Webinar I Why are financial institutions focusing on the alignment of counterparties?

I4CE Contacts
To learn more
  • 10/28/2024
    French Observatory of Access Conditions to the Ecological Transition, 2024 Edition

    The ecological transition can only happen if all households have access to solutions – public transport, electric vehicles, home insulation, heating upgrades, etc. The issue of the access to transition solutions is therefore crucial for climate policies. Special attention should be paid to low- and middle-income households, as the necessary investments may not be sustainable for them. 

  • 10/25/2024 Blog post
    Reframing the stranded assets narrative for European private financial institutions

    The implementation of the new banking package (or Capital Requirements Directive package) that adopts the final parts of the international Basel 3 financial regulation is underway in the European Union. The European Banking Authority (EBA) along with the other European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) is mandated to develop technical standards that provide the framework to help financial institutions comply with the new regulatory rules. Key among these standards is the novel guidance on ESG risks which is expected to be finalised by the EBA in the coming months. This is an opportune moment to address weaknesses in banks’ risk management practices, particularly regarding the underestimation of stranded asset risks, a missing angle in current policy debates.  

  • 10/18/2024 Foreword of the week
    The climate transition of the food system in France and the role of EU funding

    The European Commission is due to deliver a Vision for Agriculture and Food, within the first 100 days of its new mandate. Feeding into this work, the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture (SDFA) published its report “A shared prospect for farming and food in Europe” in September. The spending under the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) and its alignment with the climate goals agreed at the EU level will be central to the next steps.  

See all publications
Press contact Amélie FRITZ Head of Communication and press relations Email
Subscribe to our mailing list :
I register !
Subscribe to our newsletter
Once a week, receive all the information on climate economics
I register !
Fermer