The UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) continued to support a large network of banks, insurers and investors in their efforts to address climate change. 

The Net-Zero Banking Alliance, convened by UNEP FI, with more than 140 members across over 40 countries, saw the number of the lenders setting independent targets for reducing the carbon footprint of their financing efforts across power generation, real estate, transport and other sectors reach well over 100. Around two-thirds of members surveyed had put in place policies for coal, and oil and gas. One-third had policies on land use and deforestation. The alliance’s members agreed to expand their net-zero targets to include capital market activities, the largest source of “financed emissions” for many banks. 

The Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance expanded to 89 members, which combined have nearly US$10 trillion under management. In 2023, alliance members channelled US$555 billion into climate-related solutions, up from US$100 billion in 2020. Since the alliance’s launch in 2019, members have driven down the emissions in their portfolios by roughly 6 per cent annually. 

UN-REDD, a partnership that includes UNEP, advised 11 countries as they developed environmental and social safeguards that would allow them to access the global market for forest-based carbon trading. That market got a boost at COP29 when countries operationalized an article of the Paris Agreement that governs carbon trading. UN-REDD also provided technical support to seven countries seeking eligibility for more than US$1 billion in results-based finance for protecting forests. Safeguarding those forests would prevent the release of 138 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of taking 30 million cars of the road, while delivering benefits for communities and biodiversity.