This message concerns a recent UNEP report on aligning the financial system with sustainable development, a report from the Thomson Reuters RFI Foundation on responsible (including Islamic) finance, and my first blog on Forbes.com.
Aligning the Financial System for Sustainable Development
The first topic of this e-mail is best explained in an e-mail I got from from Simon Zadek (sizadek@gmail.com):
I am pleased to let you know that the UNEP Inquiry`s global report, “The Financial System We Need: Aligning the Financial System with Sustainable Development” was launched on the 8th October in Lima on the occasion of the IMF/World Bank Annual meetings. To a packed audience, Governors from the Bank of England and Bangladesh Bank, the Deputy Governor of the People`s Bank of China, and the World Bank`s Managing Director, Bertrand Badre, welcomed the report and signalled the importance of the landscape of innovation and potential it pointed to, moderated by UNEP`s Executive Director, Achim Steiner.
The English-language “Policy Summary” of the report is available on this link.
One of the most exciting next steps was announced by Deputy Governor Yi Gang at the launch, that China would advance a new work stream under its G20 Presidency in 2016 on green finance. As part of this high potential development, the UNEP Inquiry will be the G20 Green Finance Study Group`s secretariat, with the work stream co-chaired by the People`s Bank of China and the Bank of England.
Simultaneously, we have launched Inquiry Live !, a new web portal dedicated to providing knowledge about progress in advancing a sustainable financial system. Inquiry Live provides the Full Report and Policy Summary of “The Financial System We Need” in seven languages. in addition, the portal has an extensive and growing number of the Inquiry`s working papers. We hope you find the report relevant and useful and the underlying working papers equally useful.
If you want to review some of the shorter media pieces, you may want to look at:
“How can we create a financial system fit for the modern world?” – http://bit.ly/1OuQyOy
“UN Agency: Sustainable development requires altering the world`s financial system” – http://huff.to/1Qj6sdS
We want to ask you to help us communicate the report and web portal, by forwarding information to your colleagues and networks, writing about the work and field and guiding us to potential pathways to make the work more well known. You may find the full press release be useful.
Responsible Finance
The second topic comes from an e-mail I received from Blake Goud (blake.goud@rf-institute.org), CEO of the RFI Foundation and lead author of the Thomson Reuters-RFI “Responsible Finance Report”:
The report provides an overview of similarities between all sectors within responsible finance (including Islamic finance) and outlines the need to develop and implement regulatory changes and standards that will enhance the availability and growth potential of all sectors of responsible finance. The report was launched at the inaugural Global Ethical Forum in Edinburgh — September 2015
Integrating ESG with Shariah screened assets represents a key opportunity and could support transparency, disclosure and corporate governance in Muslim-majority emerging markets
Forbes.com Blog
I have become a columnist on Forbes.com. My first piece is “UN Sustainable Development Goals: Good for Business” was posted yesterday.I have committed to writing at least monthly, however I can post something whenever I want to. I’d welcome ideas for topics you think are worth addressing, particularly if they are tied to current events. Forbes.com is for a very broad readership and so the posts have to be short (400-600) words and written in a language that people who are not expert or interested in sustainability can understand. However, Forbes.com has a huge readership (like 60 million people) and so this is an opportunity to reach a very broad audience about things that matter to us.
