Banking and Sustainability Time for Convergence: A Policy Briefing on the Links Between Financial Stability and Environmental Sustainability

In 2014, the UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL, working with and on behalf of the Banking Environment Initiative – BEI) commissioned a study entitled, “Stability and Sustainability in Banking Reform – Are Environmental Risks Missing in Basel III?” (‘The CISL/UNEP FI Basel Report’1). The resulting report pointed to the material links between financial stability and environmental (and social) risks, which are already being experienced, and that are likely to become more pronounced and complex in the future. It offered several recommendations for supranational and national banking regulators accordingly. This briefing provides a synthesis of the current state of thinking on the topic, based on the work above. It is intended as a means of sharing key findings with policy-makers and of engaging them on the matter.