news - FMO, First Green Bank, TEEB for Business Coalition, Trucost and ASrIA join the NCD

The NCD, a finance-led initiative committing banks, investors and insurers to integrating natural capital considerations in financial products and services, was launched at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June 2012.  Earlier this week, the NCD announced the start of the a new 'Roadmap' phase, which aims to turn these commitments into reality through a programme of work by four working groups, each led by a bank. The Declaration now has 43 signatories from the finance sector and 19 non-financial stakeholders supporting the initiative. Dutch development bank FMO and Florida-based First Green Bank are the latest signatories to the NCD.

Nanno Kleiterp, CEO of FMO, said: “I believe the financial sector has a vital role to play to enable the transition towards natural and social capital accounting. At FMO we are working hard to make this a reality.”

Ken LaRoe, CEO of First Green Bank, said: “We are passionately dedicated to our mission of helping to show people there is a better way to do business which is financially, environmentally, and socially responsible, and the Natural Capital Declaration provides an awesome opportunity to contribute as global change agents.”

As the implementation of the NCD gets underway, a project manager, Liesel van Ast, has also been appointed. Van Ast was formerly Senior Analyst with Trucost, one of the new supporters of the NCD.

Lauren Smart, Executive Director of Trucost, said: “Trucost has joined the NCD because, as environmental economists, we firmly believe that quantifying natural capital risk in monetary terms will help financial institutions to integrate natural capital risk analysis in their traditional holding and fund-level analysis.”

Trucost’s research for the TEEB for Business Coalition, Natural Capital at Risk: The Top 100 Externalities of Business, found that the natural capital impacts of the world’s largest companies are costing the global economy around $7.3 trillion per year, representing a systemic financial risk larger than that faced during the global financial crisis which wiped $5.4 trillion off the value of OECD pension funds in 2008.

Through the NCD commitment to putting natural capital on the balance sheet, financial institutions will address this challenge and build a broader understanding of the emerging natural capital risks and opportunities in bond and equity markets, insurance and lending.

Please read the original Press Release

For further information, or to arrange an interview, please contact:

 GCP: Caroline Lewis, Comms & Media Officer, Global Canopy Programme, c.lewis@globalcanopy.org, tel: +44 (0)1865 724333

 UNEP Finance Initiative: John Dombkins, Communications and Public Information Officer, john.dombkins@unep.org, tel: +41 22 91 78 134

Notes to editors

1.   The Natural Capital Declaration (NCD) is a global finance-led initiative to integrate natural capital considerations into financial products and services, and to work towards their inclusion in financial accounting, disclosure and reporting. The NCD is the cumulative result of in-depth consultations with the finance community and other stakeholders and is signed by the CEOs of financial institutions. In Phase II of the initiative, signatory financial institutions are setting about implementing the commitments in the Declaration through the Natural Capital Roadmap. This is to be done through a steering committee of signatories and supporters and four working groups, supported by a secretariat formed of the UNEP Finance Initiative and the Global Canopy Programme (GCP).www.naturalcapitaldeclaration.org

2.   UNEP Finance Initiative is a global partnership of over 200 institutions, including banks, insurers and fund managers, working with UNEP to understand the impacts of environmental and social considerations on financial performance.  www.unepfi.org

3.  The Global Canopy Programme (GCP) is a tropical forest think-tank, working to demonstrate the scientific, political and business case for safeguarding forests as natural capital that underpins water, food, energy, health and climate security for all.  www.globalcanopy.org

4.   FMO is the Dutch development bank. It supports sustainable private sector growth in developing and emerging markets by investing in ambitious companies.  www.fmo.nl