The fossil fuel divestment movement was one of the main focuses of the Global Divestment Conference in Paris. The movement not only encourages the utilization of renewable energy and sustainable products but also talks about reducing investments in coal, gas industries, and oil.
UNEP’s inquiry into the design of the sustainable financial system and the global divestment conference in Paris are the prime initiatives taken to progress towards sustainable finance and acknowledge the frequent occurrence of climate change.
If we look into the key points that the global divestment conference in Paris focused on:
- The conference encouraged us to think of the moral concerns that show up when driving revenue from carbon emissions.
- It also addressed carbon bubbles as financial risks and fossil fuels as the assets for its low-carbon economies.
- One of the largest insurers in France, AXA, confirmed that it would divest from cold resources while contributing towards the addition of green investments.
- Another prominent name here is Norway’s government pension fund, which is also divested from Coal assets.
- The big UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Archbishop Desmond Tutu also contributed to the noble deeds and endorsed divestment as a sustainable financial move and moral ethics.
The conference was held by 350.oRG in 2012 and the greens EF group when we had the European Parliament.
The sole objective of the divestment movement was to create a strong awareness for everyone so they don’t rely on fossil fuels for the future.
This meets with the idea of global efforts like the Paris Agreement to minimize global warming to 1.5°C by utilizing renewable energy sources.
UNEP’s inquiry into the design of a stable financial system was initially launched in 2014 to figure out how the financial systems can help towards the progress of SDG.
The noble initiative also seeks to align with financial markets in order to fulfill the governance of ESG environmental and social principles.
The UNEP inquiry has made significant progress as it has helped to increase the integration of sustainability factors into worldwide financial regulations.
Many anti-carbon investments were also initiated, which include climate-friendly financial disclosures, green ones, and frameworks.
UNEP inquiry, with more than 15 countries, including South Africa, India, France, and China, portrays national-level discoveries that can also be scaled internationally.
The initiative also talks about utilizing financial tools such as fiscal incentives, public financial institution roles, and better risk management practices to speed up the funding for green economies.
It also identified various opportunities. The first one was to highlight national innovations to build a sustainable global framework for financing.
The second opportunity that they figured out was to create a coalition across private and public sectors to get better sustainable options for financial systems.
It also talks about redirecting investments and utilizing them for low-carbon technologies and resource-efficient industries.
Paris has also come up as one of the prime locations for discussions on global sustainable finance.
Prominent events like the UNEP FI global roundtable and Climate Finance Day are held in Paris to strengthen the financial actions to achieve sustainable climate goals.
France also took the lead for green investment by initiating movements like Finance for Tomorrow and confirmations given by major French banks such as the BNP Paribas to increase relevancy on the climate-related risks.
The broader implications that came out with the UNEP inquiry for sustainable finance talk about supporting the ESG frameworks, green bonds, and national Roadmaps.
More than 20 countries came together for global collaboration, which has accelerated the progress to integrate sustainability into financial systems.
UNEP inquiry also highlighted the contribution of nature-based solutions to act as a remedy to Biodiversity loss and climate change.
It also came up with the idea of supporting the companies and industries that are taking a step to minimize carbon and adapt to low-carbon operations.
As of 2025, some emerging trends have also emerged in the sustainable finance empire. A few of them are discussed below:
- The prestigious EU’s sustainable finance disclosure regulation (SFDR) also started closely to fight greenwashing and improve transparency.
- Many financial institutions have started to increase their investment in biodiversity operations and nature-based solution considerations, though the effort seemed a bit lower here.
- Another interesting trend observed was that the US keeps facing political reluctance to support natural conservation, and Europe is the leader in ESG adoption. This creates a regional discrepancy and makes cracks in the path of sustainable finance.
