Sustainable Development, and the Banking Initiative was formed. This Initiative, which operated under the auspices of UNEP, engaged a broad range of financial institutions, including commercial banks, investment banks, venture capitalists, asset managers, and multi-lateral development banks and agencies which promoted the integration of environmental considerations into all aspects of the financial sector’s operations and services. In 1995, UNEP joined forces with a group of leading insurance and reinsurance companies, including General Accident, Gerling Global Re, National Provident, Storebrand, Sumitomo Marine & Fire, Swiss Re, as well as pension funds, to launch the UNEP Statement of Environmental Commitment by the Insurance Industry. In this voluntary commitment, signatory companies pledged to achieve a balance of economic development, the welfare of people and a sound environment. Building the initiative From 1999 the two groups of banks and insurers began to work together on issues of mutual interest, and in 2003, the two groups merged to form the UNEP Finance Initiative. Then, in 2012, UNEP FI and a group of insurance companies took the first steps in anchoring sustainability at the heart of their business strategies when they developed the Principles for Sustainable Insurance, the first global framework for the insurance industry to address environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities. The development of the Principles led to the largest collaborative initiative between the UN and the insurance industry—the PSI Initiative. Over 200 organisations worldwide have adopted the four Principles for Sustainable Insurance, including insurers representing more than 25% of world premium volume and USD 14 trillion in assets under management. In 2019, a coalition of 132 banks convened by UNEP FI developed the first global sustainability framework for the banking industry when they launched the Principles for Responsible Banking. The six guiding principles help signatory banks ensure their strategy and practice align with the vision society has set out for its future in the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement and bring purpose, vision and ambition to sustainable finance. Signatories commit to embedding the principles across all business areas, at the strategic, portfolio and transactional levels. With the development of principles for the insurance and banking industry in addition to the Principles for Responsible Investment, sustainability blueprints now exist for all sectors of the finance industry. To fast-track financial institutions’ action on decarbonising the global economy, UNEP FI has convened coalitions of actors from across the financial sector – investors,