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ALIGNING FINANCE for the NET-ZERO ECONOMY: New Ideas from Leading Thinkers

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ALIGNING FINANCE FOR THE NET-ZERO ECONOMY: new ideas from leading thinkers #6 FINANCIAL STABILITY IN A PLANETARY EMERGENCY: The role of banking regulators in a burning world James Vaccaro and David Barmes in partnership with THOUGHT LEADERSHIP SERIES 1 ADVISORY PANEL Giel Linthorst Maria Mähl Nancy Saich Jakob Thomä Guidehouse Arabesque European Investment Bank 2 degrees investing initiative MANAGEMENT The project was managed and coordinated by EIT Climate-KIC and the UN Environment Finance Initiative, specifically: Ian Willetts Remco Fischer Paul Smith Project Manager Climate Lead Climate Consultant EIT Climate-KIC UNEP FI UNEP FI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report was made possible thanks to the generous support of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and The Sunrise Project. We also thank and acknowledge the following individuals for their contributions to this report: Nick Robins Frank van Gansbeke Jerome Tagger Hilal Atici LSE Grantham Institute Middlebury College Preventable Surprises The Sunrise Project Jeremy McDaniels Benoit Lallemand Lydia Hascott Zack Livingstone International Institute Finance Watch The Finance Innovation Lab Positive Money UK for Finance Disclaimer This paper is part of a series commissioned by Climate-KIC and supported by UNEP FI. This paper reflects the views of the aut- hor(s) and not necessarily those of the Climate Safe Lending Network, EIT Climate-KIC, UNEP FI, nor those of the Advisory Panel participants or their organisations. Copyright © Climate Safe Lending Network, (April 2021) The Climate Safe Lending Network either owns or has the right to use or licence all intellectual property rights in this publication, and the material published on it. These works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All rights are reser- ved. You may print off one copy, and may use extracts, of any page(s) from this publication to which you have access, for your per- sonal use. However, you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text. You must not use any part of the materials in this publication for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from the Climate Safe Lending Network or its licensors. The status of the Climate Safe Lending Network (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of material in this publication must always be acknowledged. 2 Foreword Eric Usher, Head of UNEP FI & Dr. Kirsten Dunlop, CEO of Climate-KIC ince the 2015 Paris Agreement, con- options for alternative business models and ways ditional pledges have fallen well short of living that contribute to economic stability and of the target of holding the global to a smooth transition. S temperature increase to well below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. To reach the aim Short-term thinking in investment cycles and in of decreasing global greenhouse gas emissions ideas of economic value are acting to prevent the annually by 7.6% up to 20301, we need to increase 1.5°C transition we need, and this will require trans- collective ambition by more than fivefold over the formation and innovations in the financial system. next ten years. Financial institutions play a leading role in allocating and pricing the investment necessary for business The low-carbon transition will require the inte- development and economic growth. Our financial gration of climate action into the economic, social systems cannot afford to view investments in and environmental dimensions of development: economic recovery as separate from the sustain- a distinguishing feature of the 2015 UN Sustain- ability agenda. Therefore, financial actors need to able Development Goals (SDGs). Interlinkages embrace new concepts of value, monetization and within and across the goals have been created externalities, and to address underlying behaviours to build on lessons from the past that sustained and mindsets, including short-termism, that govern systemic change cannot be achieved through sin- choices and decisions. Above all, the financial sys- gle-sector goals and approaches. Investing in cli- tem needs to redefine what it is in service of. mate-resilient infrastructure and the transition to a zero-carbon future can drive job creation while Reviews of the effectiveness of research and inno- increasing economic, social and environmental vation activities funded by Europe’s Horizon 2020 resilience. Investing in innovation will further programme have led to calls for more systemic and reduce the costs of climate change and generate cross-sectoral approaches, breakthrough thinking 1 United Nations Environment Programme (2019) Emissions Gap Report 2019. Nairobi, Kenya. Available at: unenvironment.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2019 3 and solutions, deep demonstration projects and Leading banks and investors have recognised social inclusion through citizen engagement and that there is no alternative to a low-emissions, participation. The final Report from the High Level sustainable economy. Convened by UNEP FI and Panel of the European Pathways to Decarbonisa- partners, the Net-Zero Asset Owners Alliance and tion initiative, released in November 2018, specif- the Collective Commitment to Climate Action by ically calls for a focus on: “system-level innovation, banks worldwide, have brought together over 70 promoting sector-coupling so that the individual financial institutions, committed to working with elements of decarbonisation fit together in a coher- governments and other stakeholders, to support ent whole” and recommends the establishment of the financial and economic transformation needed large mission-oriented programmes of a cross- to help deliver the Paris Agreement by aligning cutting nature for the deployment of system-level financial portfolios with the corresponding emis- transdisciplinary innovation.2 sions pathways – a step that was hitherto unheard of – and deliver what the IPCC report calls, “rapid, In the meantime, the coronavirus pandemic has far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all triggered a major global public health and eco- aspects of society”.4 nomic shock. We can draw comparisons between pandemics and the climate emergency: as sys- However, the climate emergency will require temic, non-stationary, non-linear, risk-multiplying current thinking and paradigms to be challenged and regressive shocks. Many countries have been and questioned. This is why EIT Climate KIC, in unprepared for a global shock of this scale and it is partnership with UNEP Finance Initiative, is con- clear that we must collectively build a more coher- vening leading thinkers to present their ideas for ent response to the potentially more disruptive cli- sustainable financial and economic transformation. mate emergency and build an anti-fragile capability We hope that this inspires financial actors to work for resilience and renewal. across the field to draw up a financial system that enables the low emission societies of the future. The pandemic has also shown that business-as- usual cannot deliver the necessary emissions reductions. Despite international travel plum- meting, factories scaling down production, and employees working from home, the annual drop in emissions has only been around 8% and unem- ployment has soared. Emergence from lockdown in China, for example, has shown that emissions quickly reach or even exceed pre-COVID levels,3 while government stimulus packages have only partially delivered transition-oriented funding and, in some cases, thrown a lifeline to high emis- Eric Usher Dr. Kirsten Dunlop sions industries. Head of UNEP FI CEO of Climate-KIC 2 European Commission (2018) Final Report, High Level Panel of the European Pathways to Decarbonisation. Brussels, Belgium. Available at: op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/226dea40-04d3-11e9-adde- 01aa75ed71a1 3 World Economic Forum (2020) China’s air pollution has overshot pre-pandemic levels as life begins to return to normal. Geneva, Switzerland. Available at: weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/pollution-co2-economy-china/ 4 IPCC (2018) Summary for Policymakers of IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C. WMO, Geneva, Swit- zerland. Available at: ipcc.ch/2018/10/08/summary-for-policymakers-of-ipcc-special-report-on-global-warming- of-1-5c-approved-by-governments/ 4 About EIT Climate-KIC About UNEP FI EIT Climate-KIC is Europe’s largest climate innovation initiati- United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative ve, leveraging the power of innovation in pursuit of a zero-car- (UNEP FI) is a partnership between UNEP and the global finan- bon, climate-resilient, just, and inclusive society. Established cial sector to mobilize private sector finance for sustainable in 2010 and headquartered in Amsterdam, EIT Climate-KIC development. UNEP FI works with more than 350 members— orchestrates a community of more than 400 organisations in- banks, insurers, and investors—and over 100 supporting in- cluding large corporations and SMEs, municipal and regional stitutions—to help create a financial sector that serves people governments, universities and research institutes, as well as and planet while delivering positive impacts. We aim to inspire, non-governmental organisations and uncommon actors. The inform and enable financial institutions to improve people’s organisation uses a portfolio approach for developing and de- quality of life without compromising that of future generati- ploying innovation to achieve systemic change in those human ons. By leveraging the UN’s role,
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