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Peer Review

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Notes

Introduction:

As heads of some of the largest financial service organisations in the world, we acknowledge that:

- Unequivocally, human activity is a fundamental driver of climate change, as confirmed in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.
- Unless action is taken now to set in motion a worldwide transition to a low carbon economy, some scenarios suggest that by 2040, the world could experience annual economic losses as high as USD 1 trillion1; and grave social and environmental harm from climate-related disasters.
- Climate change could result in a reduction in global GDP equivalent to the economic impacts of the 20th century’s major conflicts, as predicted by the Stern Review to the UK Prime Minister.
- The most severe impacts of climate change, including extreme weather events, drought, crop failure and disease will fall most harshly on those regions and people least able adapt to the impacts of climate change – the world’s poor.

In 2002, the UNEP Finance Initiative Climate Change Working Group, made up of some of the largest financial institutions from around the globe, alerted the finance and business communities, governments and public at large, to a number of the major risks posed by climate change to the world economy. In the 5 years since the landmark report, Climate Change and the Financial Services Industry: Threats and Opportunities, UNEP FI and its members have urged governments to take greater and more concerted action, and have pushed for effective market-oriented solutions in tackling the problem.