Financing a resilient and sustainable economy | RIAA, IGCC, PRI, UNEP SI and UNEP FI

Joint Statement calls on the finance sector to support the development of Sustainable Finance Roadmaps for Australia and New Zealand

The Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) has today joined with the Investor Group on Climate Change, the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the UN Environment’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance, and the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) – collectively representing over 300 institutions with $10 trillion in assets – to sign a joint statement that commits to starting the development of Sustainable Finance Roadmaps for Australia and New Zealand.  

We are now encouraging RIAA members and the wider finance sector in Australia and New Zealand to join with us in support of this commitment to develop Sustainable Finance Roadmaps by signing the Joint Statement in support of a Sustainable Financial System, released at the UNEP FI Conference on Financing a Resilient and Sustainable Economy in Sydney today. 

Get in touch to express your interest in supporting the Joint Statement here

The organisations that have convened this statement commit to convene finance, government, civil society and consumer bodies to kick-start the process to develop Sustainable Finance Roadmaps for Australia and New Zealand.

We will now open this statement up to other organisations to sign on to show their support of this commitment to develop Sustainable Finance Roadmaps and to participate in the process. 

A Sustainable Finance Roadmap is a set of recommendations across policy, regulation and finance practices that helps the finance sector contribute systematically to a more resilient and sustainable economy.  From the European Union to China, a growing number of regions and countries globally have developed Sustainable Finance Roadmaps to help achieve national, regional and global sustainable development goals.

You can read the RIAA’s briefing paper on Sustainable Finance Roadmaps produced for the conference here.

The Sustainable Finance Roadmaps build on RIAA’s work to date identifying key priorities for shaping more sustainable finance markets in Australasia, as outlined in our paper: Driving Long-term Investment and Delivering Responsible Financial Markets. 

One of the World's Biggest Insurers Is Ditching Coal | Earther

Earlier this week, one of the biggest re-insurance companies in the world started implementing a policy reflecting the growing risk around new coal projects. Swiss Re announced on Monday it would no longer insure companies that get 30 percent of their revenue or generate 30 percent of their power from coal burned for energy (known in energy parlance as ‘thermal coal’).

Yes, your energy bills are too high. Here's how the ACCC thinks prices can be slashed | The ABC

The consumer watchdog believes Australians are paying too much for their electricity. A lack of competition in the energy market and policy mistakes by successive state and federal governments has added significant costs to power bills, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

"We've got a lot of costs imposed into the system, the market's too concentrated and we've had some unfortunate behaviour by retailers."

Here's a link to the ACCC media release and you can find the ACCC report here.

Screws tighten on thermal coal as Swiss Re pulls plug | Financial Review

Swiss Re, the world's second largest reinsurer, has pulled the plug on underwriting policies for companies with more than 30 per cent of thermal coal in their mining or power-generation portfolios, further tightening the screws on a fuel which is paradoxically enjoying buoyant demand in Asia

Climate Horizons Report 2018 | Centre for Policy Development

"Climate change is not some distant threat. It is a global tragedy unfolding before our eyes, disrupting ecosystems, communities and economies. For companies, investors and financiers the risks and opportunities are immediate and pressing. The expectations of markets and policymakers on emissions reduction targets and adaptation measures are ramping up. Customers, shareholders and regulators demand increasingly sophisticated responses. If Australian businesses and company directors fail to react urgently and coherently, then they will jeopardise their own future: assets will be stranded or uninsurable, investment will stall, debts will go unpaid, and companies will collapse.” Download the full report here

Rising seas: 'Florida is about to be wiped off the map' | The Guardian

"Take the 6 million people who live in south Florida today and divide them into two groups: those who live less than six and a half feet above the current high tide line, and everybody else. The numbers slice nearly evenly. Heads or tails: call it in the air. If you live here, all you can do is hope that when you put down roots your choice was somehow prophetic."

Financing a Sustainable Economy | John Price, Commissioner, ASIC

Climate change

Keynote address by John Price, Commissioner, Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Centre for Policy Development: Financing a Sustainable Economy, Sydney, Australia, 18 June 2018

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“However, notwithstanding these issues, as a general proposition we do not consider that the law or our policy would impede an entity from undertaking scenario analysis. Likewise, we do not think that director liability should be a major impediment to reporting under TCFD Recommendations provided that the modelling adopts reasonable assumptions and inputs and discloses them in full. This can be achieved by making sure the disclosure is the product of a robust assessment of the best evidence available at the time”

Download the full speech here