The Markets October 21, 2008

UN Group Develops Financial Services SRI Reporting Framework

An effort tied to the United Nations has generated a new environment and social reporting standard for asset managers, banks, and other financial services companies.

Reported by

Fred Schneyer

A news release said the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP), a partnership between UNEP and more than 180 financial institutions, joined with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to develop the reporting standard over a five-year period.

According to the announcement, some sectors such as financial services face “unique needs’ that require specialized guidance on public reporting of these issues.

“We are proud that UNEP and the financial institutions we partner with have been a key driver in developing this set of indicators for the global financial services community to disclose their environmental and social track record,” explained Sylvie Lemmet, Director, UNEP Division for Technology, Industry and Economics, in the news release.”The standard is of great relevance in today’s world where disclosure and transparency is considered a key responsibility of financial institutions.”

Given the current lack of detailed reporting guidance on the sustainability performance of financial products and services, UNEP FI and GRI expect that the indicators will become the future standard for sustainability reporting in the financial sector, according to the news release.

The supplement is available for download at: www.unepfi.org.