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20 October

21 October

 

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Highlights for Monday, 20 October 2003

Delegates to the UNEP Finance Initiatives 2003 Global Roundtable met  in a morning Plenary to hear opening statements and a keynote speech and participate in a panel discussion. In the afternoon, delegates broke into four parallel workshop sessions, and heard presentations from an afternoon plenary regarding strategic sustainability values. In the evening, delegates gathered to witness the entry of three new members to the finance initiative during a signing ceremony and cocktail reception with a special concert by UNEP Special Envoy, Tokiko Kato. Above photo: Klaus Töpfer being introduced to participants from the Development Bank of Japan.
 

Opening Session:
Minister of the Environment, Koike Yuriko (right) stressed the importance of harmonizing environmental preservation and economic growth. In order to achieve this, she said that personal lifestyle and business activities would need to be reviewed and emphasized development of technology and products that serve the environment and stimulate the economy.



Photo: Takeshi Komura (left), Governor of the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ), noted that the DBJ was the first Japanese bank to sign the UNEP FI Statement, Komura outlined activities of the DBJ, and stressed the need for social and environmental responsibility among financial institutions.

Listen to the opening statements of Koike Yuriko, Japanese Minister of Environment (left) and Takeshi Komura, Governor of the Development Bank of Japan

Carlos Joly (left), Chair of the UNEP FI Insurance Industry Initiative, underscored the need to integrate sustainability into product development, business practices, and operations.  



Highlighting the business case for sustainability, Michael Hoelz (right), Chair of UNEP FI, stressed the importance of integrating and harmonizing environmental, social, and economic issues within business practices of the financial sector.


Noting that reaching the MDG relating to the provision of safe drinking water would require a doubling of the current investment of US$90 billion per year, Klaus Töpfer, UNEP Executive Director, stressed the role of the private sector in stimulating economic development in order to meet the MDGs.
In his keynote speech entitled “Sustainability and social common capital,” Hirofumi Uzawa, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, described the historical progression of economic thinking since the 19th century, illustrating how capitalism and socialism have been abused or idealized during different periods in history.

Understanding Sustainability: Characteristics of sustainable finance



Above photo L-R: Yotaro Kobayashi, Chair of the Board of Fuji Xerox, defined sustainability as the balance between economic, social, and environmental priorities; Tony Juniper, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and Northern Ireland), said sustainability is not about finding a balance but about integrating all elements under one model, defining it as a process of improving the quality of life for all people, while respecting environmental limits and ensuring the survival of future generations; Bob Welsh, Chief Executive of VicSuper, described how his company integrates sustainability into its operations. 

Parallel Workshop Session:

Reporting Sustainability: Standards and Guidelines

Ernst Ligteringen (left), Chief Executive of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), provided an overview of the GRI’s aims and objectives, highlighting its mission to develop a global framework for sustainability reporting.

Robert Waite (right), Senior Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs at CIBC, elaborated on CIBC’s sustainability initiatives and its commitment to corporate governance, community development, and environment.

Gerry Salembier (left), Director of Finance Canada’s Financial Institutions Division, presented Canada’s sustainability reporting framework as outlined in the Public Accountability Statement, which aims to: foster competition, growth, and efficiency; ensure consumer protection and empowerment; and promote regulatory streamlining.

Iwao Taka (right) of the ISO Strategic Advisory Group on CSR discussed the possibility of establishing ISO CSR standards.

Insuring sustainability:


The workshop focused on exploring insurance products, services, and approaches which support of sustainability

 Above photos L-R: Robert Hassler, CEO oekom research, Toshihiko Goto, Chair, Environmental Auditing Research Institute, Bruce Thomas and Helen Bloustein, EPA Victoria.

Defining sustainable investment strategies for Pension Funds:


Above photos L-R: Richard Grottheim (left), Executive Vice President of AP7, explained the activities of his company, a Swedish national pension fund.; Masafumi Hikima (right), President and Chief Executive Officer of Nikko Asset Management, outlined five typical approaches to SRI, namely: negative screening, which eliminates certain sectors such as the military; positive screening; engagement through dialogue with companies; proxy voting; and community investing.


Peter Moon, Chief Investment Officer of Universities Superannuation Scheme, expressed concern with how the pension fund industry is driven by short term factors, noting that the risk system is geared toward commercial risk and not toward pensioners
The workshop session was chaired by Tessa Tennant (above left), Chair of the Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia. Reverend Gijun Sugitani (above right) spoke on the relationship between SRI and religion, noting that the conflict between economy and environment extended back to when humankind transitioned from hunting to farming.

Corporate Regulation and Governance:


This workshop focused on investigating the challenges of embedding sustainability values in emerging market corporate governance architectures. Above photos L-R: Fernando Teixeira Dos Santos, IOSCO, Hanns Michael Hoelz, Deutsche Bank, Jamie Allen, Secretary-General, Asian Corporate Governance Association, James Lawden, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Strategic values of sustainability:

Zmarak Shalizi (right), Senior Manager for Infrastructure and Environment Research in the Development Economics Vice-Presidency of the World Bank, highlighted the findings of the 2003 World Development Report.




Koichi Takata (left), President of Shiga Bank, conveyed the Bank’s “Clean Bank, Shiga Bank” philosophy and announced that Shiga Bank won a prize for environmental management. 

Presenting the business case for sustainable development with a focus on the impacts of climate change, Alex Barkawi (right), Managing Director of SAM Indexes, noted that rapid and concentrated urbanization has led to increased costs and greater economic damage than previously projected.

Cocktail and new signatories' signing ceremony:

Photo (left) L-R: Hanns Michael Hoelz, Carlos Joly, Bob Welsh, Vic Super, Eiichi Tanabe, Sumitomo Trust and Banking Corporation.



Tokiko Kato, shakes hand with Klaus Toepfer.