Climate Action in Financial Institutions

“Mainstreaming” climate change considerations throughout financial institutions’ operations, and in their investing and lending activities, will enable financial institutions to deliver better, more sustainable, short-term and long-term results – both developmentally and financially. “Mainstreaming” by definition implies a shift from financing climate activities in incremental ways, to making climate change – both in terms of opportunities and risk – a core consideration and a “lens” through which institutions deploy capital.

Sharing this ambition, more than 20 institutions launched the Climate Action in Financial Institutions Initiative (formerly known as 5 Principles for Mainstreaming Climate Action within Financial institutions) on December 7, 2015 in the sidelines of COP21.

As of May 2017, 30 institutions around the globe have joined the Initiative and endorsed 5 principles to mainstreaming climate change consideration throughout their activity. These principles are:

• COMMIT to climate strategies
• MANAGE climate risks
• PROMOTE climate smart objectives
• IMPROVE climate performance
• ACCOUNT for your climate action