Alliances & initiatives

find out what all these abbreviations & acronyms mean

As concerns mount over the dangers of climate change and other environmental crises, numerous alliances and initiatives have formed to galvanise action. These have been initiated by the UN and associated groups, as well as arising in the voluntary and private sectors. Their aims are usually one of the following:

to form an alliance - to bring common interests together to focus on a problem and plan a way forward
to develop an environmental reporting system - to help organisations formulate environmental policies and structure the reporting of it. Find out more about these reporting systems on the "About reporting schemes" page.
to issue a declaration - by signing up to this, an organisation makes a public commitment to certain actions and can be held accountable for them

Alliances & Initiatives
Here are some of the more prominent alliances and initiatives. Many of these have aligned with the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

CCCA - Collective Commitment to Climate Action
membership:   38 banks ($15trn of assets)
agreed to:    align services and lending with the Paris Agreement
Launched at the UN's Climate Action Summit in New York 2019 by those banks wanting to fast-track their commitments to the Principles of Responsible Banking (PRB). See participating banks here.

Climate Action 100+
membership:     major investors
agreed to:    encourage investors to make main GHG emitters take climate action
initiated by:   GIC (the alliance of regional investor groups)
Starting in 2017, this is a five year investor initiative to ensure the world’s largest corporate GHG emitters take the necessary action on climate change. It is a coalition of 500 of the world's leading investors managing $47 trn of investments, brought together and coordinated by GIC (see more information on GIC below). A list has been drawn up of the 100 top polluters across the world responsible for over 80% of corporate greenhouse gas emissions, plus 67 companies with significant opportunity to drive the clean energy transition. Efforts to target the 167 focus companies has been split geographically amongst the GIC's regional investor groups and PRI as follows

AIGCC-PRI partnership - Asia - 32 focus companies
Ceres - North America - 32 focus companies
IGCC - Australasia - 13 focus companies
IIGCC - Europe - 46 focus companies
PRI - 39 focus companies

Signatories to Climate Action 100+ demand that focus businesses make disclosures in line with the TCFD recommendations, publish strategies to reduce GHG emissions by 45% by 2030 and rach net zero by 2050. If necessary they are prepared to use their clout to vote against management at a company's AGM - see the Climate Action 100+ 2020 Progress Report.

Climate Ambition Alliance
membership: countries, regional government, cities, businesses, investors
agreed to: increase climate action
initiated by: UN
Launched in 2019 at COP25 Madrid as part of the Marrakech Partnership, this alliance has pledged to scale up climate action. Countries will enhance their NDCs and regional governments, cities, businesses and investors will work towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Climate Emergency campaign
membership: local and national governments, businesses, civil society
agreed to:   declare a climate emergency
initiated by:   local government
This campaign started in a local council in Australia in 2016 and has spread to the rest of the world. The aim is to get organisations to declare that we are in a Climate Emergency. The follow on from this is an obligation to act to restore a safe climate at speed. Some local governments in the UK have set up citizens' panels to map out the way forward as their response to the climate emergency.

CFLI - Climate Finance Leadership Initiative
membership:   8 leading financial groups
agreed to:   mobilise finance to support low-carbon development and orderly transition
The UN asked Michael Bloomberg (Special Envoy for Climate Action) to lead a private sector initiative to address climate change. In 2018, the CFLI was formed by Allianz Global Investors, AXA, Bloomberg, Enel, Goldman Sachs, Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), HSBC, and Macquarie. See "Financing the Low-Carbon Future", a CFLI report outlining the challenges and how to meet them.

CFP - Climate Finance Partnership
membership:   philanthropies, governments, institutional investors
agreed to:   design a blended capital investment vehicle
Announced at the New York One Planet Summit in 2019 by President Macron and Larry Fink of BlackRock (the world's largest fund management group), as well as the governments of France and Germany, and the Hewlett, Grantham, and IKEA foundations. The aim is to use public and philanthropic money to de-risk private sector investment in infrastructure. This is known as blended finance and nudges mainstream institutional investors (pension and investment funds, worth $100trn) to invest in climate-related sectors in emerging markets. The CFP is coordinated by the Task Force on Philanthropic Innovation and the Aligned Intermediary.

GFANZ - Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero
membership: 160 of the world's biggest banks, asset managers, insurers, and asset owners, responsible for $70trn of assets
agreed to: be an umbrella organisation for net zero coalitions in the financial sector
initiated by: Mark Carney, the UK's Finance Adviser for COP 26
Launched in April 2021, GFANZ brings together coalitions such as the Net Zero Asset Owners Alliance, the Net Zero Asset Managers and the newly formed Net Zero Banking Alliance. The aim is to coordinate actions across the financial sector and to include ca response on insurance underwriting and financial market infrastructure, where there are no net zero coalitions in place. All members of GFANZ must have a net zero emissions target meeting the benchmark requirements of the UN Race to Zero campaign (see 'Marrakech Partnership' below), but there is no deadline for exiting fossil fuel investment.

GIC - Global Investor Coalition on Climate Change
membership:   4 regional investor groups
agreed to:   support climate initiatives, including Climate Action 100+
This is a collaboration of investor groups from:

Europe - Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC)
North America - CERES
Asia - Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC)
Australasia - Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC)

These groups began working together in 2012 to support climate initiatives and events for investors. In 2017, GIC joined with the PRI network of investors to launch Climate Action 100+, to make the world’s largest corporate GHG emitters take the necessary action on climate change. In 2018, the GIC members joined with PRI, CDP and UNEP FI to launch The Investor Agenda, identifying science-based targets for GHG emissions and the actions they can take to meet those targets. Read more on the "Climate Action 100+" page.

GISD - Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance
membership:   30 business leaders
agreed to:   develop a plan to get investment to support sustainable development
initiated by: UN
In 2019, the UN established a two year alliance of 30 business leaders from finance, manufacturing and technology across the world. The GISD plan sets out how to get long-term investment to support sustainable development. This includes developing new/better financial instruments and business models, and also identifying the barriers. The GISD will seek the cooperation of high-level decision makers, international organisations, regulatory and standard-setting bodies, business associations and other influential bodies.

Global Investor Statement to Governments on Climate Change
membership:   631 investors
agreed to:   call for policies to unlock low carbon growth and avoid economic devastation
Initially launched in June 2018 ahead of the G7 Summit, this statement by investors outlines what policy changes by governments are needed to:
•   Achieve the Paris Agreement’s goals
•   Accelerate private sector investment into the net-zero transition
•    Improve climate-related financial reporting

In the run up to COP25 in Madrid in December 2019, the Global Investor Statement was signed by 631 investors managing over US $37trn. The extent of global organisations working together on climate change was illustrated by signatures to the statement being collected at:
- the Global Climate Action Summit in September 2018
- COP24 in Katowice in December 2018
- the G20 Summit in Osaka in June 2019
- the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in New York in September 2019.

Global Pact for the Environment
membership:   UN members
agreed to:   develop an international agreement on the environment
In 2018, the UN General Assembly voted to create an international treaty recognising the right to a healthy environment. The first consultation meeting in 2020 was led by Pakistani and Estonian ambassadors and plans are to submit a proposal to the UN Environmental Assembly in February 2021. This initiative brings together UN institutions, countries and civil society and would provide an umbrella for the current patch-work of international and national environmental laws.

International Conferences on Financing Development
membership:   developed and developing countries, global financial bodies, business leaders
intiated by: UN
These meetings started in 2002 and it is where the UN brings together developed and developing countries to agree how finance (domestic and international) can be mobilised to support sustainable development. Meetings are attended by heads of state, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as prominent business leaders and others. Agreements are wide-ranging covering trade, aid, debt relief and institution building. There have been three meetings with the following agreements:

The 2002 Monterrey Consensus - agreement to give at least 0.7% of GDP in every country to support development
The 2008 Doha Declaration - agreement to continue development funding, but fewer leaders of western countries attended and the World Bank and IMF were absent.
The 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda - agreement that a new framework was needed to align global financing flows and policies with economic, social and environmental priorities. Finance, technology, innovation, trade and data should all support the objectives of COP, as well as the SDGs.

Leaf Coalition
The US, UK and Norway have launched a coalition to raise $1 billion in public and private finance this year to help protect tropical forests and reduce emissions from deforestation.

Marrakech Partnership initiatives
membership: all levels of government, business, finance and civil society
Two high level Community Champions were appointed at COP21 in Paris to raise ambition in climate action. At COP22 they initiated the Marrakech Partnership which led to three initiatives:

Find out more on the "Marrakech Partnership" page.

NGFS - Network for Greening the Financial System
membership: central banks and supervisors
agreed to: support the Paris agreement and sustainable development
This network of central banks and supervisors has 75 members from across the world. It was established at the Paris “One Planet Summit” in December 2017. NGFS has issued six recommendations in support of the Paris Agreement goals. It encourages all issuers of public debt or equity to disclose in line with the TCFD recommendations and provides free-to-use reference scenarios so that companies can measure their resilience to climate change.

Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance
membership:   investors
agreement:   to limit global warming to 1.5°C
This investor alliance was launched at the Climate Action Summit, New York 2019, by the UNEP FI and PRI. It involves 30 of the world’s largest pension funds and insurers responsible for $5 trn of investments, as well as the WWF and the Mission 2020 campaign. Members commit to engagement and advocacy with companies, industry sectors, public policy and all asset classes, including equities, fixed income, infrastructure and property loans. The plan is to align engagement activity with existing initiatives e.g. Climate Action 100+. There will be an informal annual stocktake of progress and a quantitative report in December 2023.

NZBA - Net Zero Banking Alliance
membership:   43 banks, with USD28.5 trn under management, from 23 countries
agreed to:   collaborate to finance the transition to net zero
initiated by: UN
Launched April 2021, by banks and the Financial Services Taskforce (FSTF), part of the Prince of Wales' Sustainable Markets Initiative. Banks have committed to setting 2030 targets within 18 months that will align GHG emissions from their operations and their portfolios to net-zero by 2050 or sooner. Banks will annually publish emissions and emissions intensity and, within 36 months, will set targets for carbon-intensive sectors including agriculture, aluminium, cement, coal, real estate, iron and steel, oil and gas, power generation and transport.

Paris Aligned Investment Initiative
agreed to:   look at how investments can be aligned with the Paris Agreement
initiated by:   Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC)
Launched in 2019, this looks at how investors can align their portfolios with the Paris Agreement and includes sovereign bonds (government borrowing), shares, corporate borrowing and real estate. The outcome was a set of recommended actions, metrics and methodologies called the Net Zero Investment Framework - this is now being consulted on. The intention is to decarbonise investments held and increase investments in 'Climate Solutions'.

UNEP FI - UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative
membership: global financial sector
agreed to: create a framework for the financial sector to respond to climate change
initiated by: UN
This body was created in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit to form a partnership between the UN and the global financial sector. Over 200 financial institutions worked together to create a framework for investors, banks, insurance companies and stock exchanges to take proper account of climate risks & opportunities when assessing the business sector. It is intended that private finance is focussed on delivering the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement. Several important climate reporting frameworks have been established - PRI, PSI, PRB and SSEI. Find out more about those in the "A-Z of reporting schemes".

We Mean Business
membership:   BSR, CDP, Ceres, The B Team, The Climate Group, The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development
coalition:   non-profits working with influential business
initiated by:   IKEA Foundation; other supporters - Hewlett Foundation, The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation
Established in 2015, this global coalition of non-profit organizations works with the world’s most influential businesses to take action on climate change. The aim is to catalyse business action to drive policy ambition and accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon economy. WMB supports the excellent newsletter Climate Home News.