“Stepping up action has never been more urgent. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on the impacts of global warming at 1.5 °C, requested at COP 21, made this crystal clear. We are running out of time to stay under this limit. On the basis of current trends, the World Meteorological Organization expects a global average temperature increase of 3–5 °C by 2100.”
Patricia Espinosa, UNFCCC Executive Secretary (UN Climate Change Annual Report 2018)
GEFI – The Path to COP26
The finance sector needs to act together to achieve decisive action at COP26, the most important climate summit since Paris. With a global footprint and Scottish roots, Global Ethical Finance has united the leading financial services stakeholders committed to action at COP26, with a campaign of over 30 events and activities aligned to three core themes: Adam Smith at the COP, Finance for Nature and Faith in the SDGs.
The coronavirus pandemic – which led to the postponement of COP26 – has exposed the fragility of our planet and its people. With health security emerging as a top global priority, it is critical that this is considered in conjunction with, rather than in isolation of, the climate emergency. All efforts to rebuild more resilient economies must support the transition toward a greener, net-zero planet. The extended run into COP26 now presents an opportunity to mobilise wider and deeper commitments to drive climate action.
To help build momentum towards the climate summit, all GEFI activities throughout 2020 and 2021 will be aligned to COP26 as part of the Path to COP26, including our flagship Ethical Finance Summit. Traditionally convened annually in Edinburgh, Ethical Finance 2020 ran as a virtual summit in October 2020, with Ethical Finance 2021 due to be held virtually again in June 2021.
As well as events held in the run-up to COP26, we we be holding events in GLasgow alongside the summit itself, including our unique Finance for Nature in Nature event on the stunning banks of Loch Lomond, the UK’s largest lake, which is around a half hour journey from Glasgow.
Ensure your organisation is part of the UK’s largest gathering of global leaders with over 30,000 participants coming to Glasgow in November 2021
Upcoming event
The Radical Old Idea | The ESG Enlightenment: Finance as a Force for Lasting Good
Wednesday 24th March 2021
Virtual meeting (register here)
Sign up now to hear from Keith Skeoch, former CEO of Standard Life Aberdeen & current Non-executive Chairman of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Research Institute on Wednesday 24th March at 14:00 GMT for the latest in our Radical Old Idea series, a platform inspired by the historic Scottish enlightenment to explore ideas that deliver positive financial and economic outcomes for the benefit of society.
In an interview with Kaisie Rayner, Climate Change Lead at Royal London, Keith will discuss the factors behind the ‘ESG Enlightenment’ that has taken place in the past few years, as socially and environmentally aware finance has moved from the margins to the mainstream.
He will examine how the finance system can be a force for lasting good, drawing upon philosophers from Smith to Sandel, and ask how we can go beyond regulation to create a culture of personal responsibility for ethical behaviour in finance, promoting good governance and supporting the transition to a sustainable economy.
Latest event
Ethical Finance Round Table: Accounting for Sustainability - Net Zero: Myth or Reality?
Thursday 18th February 2021
Virtual meeting (register here)
At our next virtual Ethical Finance Round Table on Thursday 18th February 2021 at 14:00 GMT, we will be joined by Professor Michael Mainelli, Sheriff of the City of London, founder of Z/Yen and qualified accountant, and Jon Williams; Partner, Sustainability and Climate Change, PwC.
Aims
Connect
Provide a platform to connect and share knowledge, ideas and best practice.
Amplify
Engage with financial institutions and organisations to amplify the pressing need for climate action.
Accelerate
Assist the financial sector to accelerate practical efforts to tackle climate change by signing up to relevant agendas.
Core themes
Adam Smith at COP26
During the 18th Century, the Scottish Enlightenment put Glasgow at the heart of world thinking. Today, as the world comes to Scotland, we ask what we can learn today from one of the great pioneers of the Scottish Enlightenment, the renowned economist and former lecturer at Glasgow University Adam Smith.
Faith in the SDGs
Faith groups have played a huge role in the development of ethical finance, from its 19th century beginnings to the present day. Our Edinburgh Finance Declaration brought together faith groups to identify the values they share relevent to finance. Looking ahead to COP26, involving faith groups represents an important avenue for action, ensuring their endowments are invested responsibly and including voices from around the world.
Finance for Nature
Achieving decisive action on climate requires nature. Alongside the need to protect nature for its own sake, nature-based solutions to climate change have huge potential to prevent temperature rises. However, investments which harm nature are currently outfunded 100:1 compared to those which protect nature. We are working with UNDP, UNEP, Climate Advisers and WEF to finance the protection of nature.
Net Zero Pensions
With COP26 coming to Glasgow the Scottish LGPS providers are coming under increasing scrutiny.
The Net Zero Pensions workstream therefore seeks to engage with Scottish LGPS providers to develop a roadmap to Net Zero. The roadmap will offer guidance on the steps that can be taken by defined benefit scheme providers across the globe to measure their current position and set Net Zero ambitions.
This workstream will also seek to encourage corporates in Scotland to put people and planet on a par with profit in their pension investments as well as to raise awareness across the working population in Scotland..
Latest Articles
Strategic Partners
Signatories: financial services
Signatories: advocacy
How to Join
It does not cost to join. You simply need to send an email stating “[insert name of your organisation] endorses the Path to COP26 campaign declaration“. Send your email to events@globalethicalfinance.org
Thereafter your organisation will have the opportunity to:
- Have your logo showcased on the dedicated campaign website
- Promote the campaign to staff, members, clients and stakeholder (via emails, newsletters, events etc)
- Promote the event on social media (using #pathtocop26)
- Add Path to COP26 logo and website to your website
- Provide relevant research / reports / articles / blogs / vlogs for our website and social media dissemination
- Where appropriate share relevant thought leadership content prepared by Path to COP26 supporters with your stakeholders
- Provide comments/content for media releases and insight articles facilitated by GEF
- Align your relevant events with the Path to COP26 and have them listed on our website
- Promote Path to COP26 events on your website
- If applicable, support our Scottish pension campaign that we are working on with Make My Money Matter / ShareAction
The Benefits
Showcase Your Commitment – brand profile
- Demonstration of your commitment to the climate agenda
- Logo included on the event website and associated marketing materials
- Extend brand reach and thought leadership content through digital comms
Guidance – connecting you to the right agenda & facilitated engagement
- Signposting to the right agenda for your organisation and stakeholders
- Facilitated introductions to aligned stakeholders
- Identify and harness best practice
Events Access – be part of the UK’s largest gathering of global leaders for 2021
- Priority invitations to GEFI events through to 2021
- Opportunity to attend / participate in GEFI 2020 & 2021 events programme (incl. COP26 in Glasgow)
- Complimentary / discounted tickets for clients / members
Right Agenda
Rather than creating our own standards or frameworks, we are seeking to identify and signpost our stakeholders to the leading global initiatives. We have provided indicative examples below and, where appropriate, encourage you to consider engaging – if you are not already done so – in the right agenda for your organisation:
Commit to Net Zero
Banking
Asset Owners / Asset Managers
Insurance
Consumer Pensions
Join us
If you would like to be a part of our exciting journey in 2021, then please email us at
COP26
The 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) – organised by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – will take place in Glasgow, Scotland in 2021.
In 2021, the eyes of the world will be focused on Scotland, when senior politicians from across the globe convene in Glasgow to negotiate the acceleration of efforts to tackle climate change. COP26 will be the most important climate summit since the landmark Paris Agreement was ratified at COP21 in 2015.
To limit global warming to 1.5 °C, as agreed in Paris, CO2 emissions must fall by about 45 percent by 2030 from a 2010 baseline.
In Glasgow, global leaders will be challenged to demonstrate tangible progress on their ambitious climate pledges that will help to transform our economies and societies.
Climate Finance
Although widely recognised as having a fundamental role to play in delivering the Paris Agreement, the financial sector has often been a cause, rather than a solution, to some of the pressing challenges faced by our planet and its people.
The sector sits at the heart of today’s global markets and therefore has a critical role to play in supporting the decarbonisation of the global economy. It must also adapt to changing global consumption and productions patterns that consider environmental impact.
According to UNEP FI (see article) financial opportunities associated with overhauling economies towards climate-compatibility include:
- New risks need to be understood, identified, assessed, managed, and eventually disclosed on, by institutions across financial industries.
- The transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies require additional investment at an order of magnitude of at least USD 60 trillion, from now until 2050.
USD35trillion
To decarbonize, through renewable energy and energy efficiency, the world’s energy system.
USD15trillion
To adapt man-made infrastructure to changing meteorological conditions.
USD2trillion
To reorganise global land-use im ways that meet growing demands for agricultural commodities while stopping tropical deforestation.
For financial institutions to become determined enablers and catalysts of the climate economic transition, they need to understand the commercial risks and opportunities implied, and know how to act on them.
Climate change is a large, systemic financial risk that will change asset values as investment moves away from high carbon assets towards a low carbon economy.