UNEP Financial Inquiry - Pathways to Scale

This executive summary from the Green Economy Coalition outlines the UNEP Financial Inquiry's findings on aligning global financial flows with sustainable development. It identifies systemic failures in current investment pricing and proposes reforms across banking, bond markets, institutional investment, and central bank operations to scale sustainable finance.

• The global financial system possesses significant asset stocks, but investment flows are currently misaligned with long-term sustainable development because of systemic failures and ineffective pricing.
• Sustainable development alignment is needed across five specific financial areas: banking (the largest asset pool at US$139 trillion), bond markets (the largest capital market at US$100 trillion), institutional investment (US$93 trillion in assets), central bank balance sheets (US$24 trillion in assets), and long-term environmental risk assessment.
• Scaling sustainable finance requires a focus on four key features: Purpose, Asset pools, Tools for alignment, and Pathways for change. Success should be measured by a new performance framework focusing on Effectiveness (real economy allocation), Efficiency (mediation costs and incentives), and Resilience (systemic risk exposure).

APA

UNEP (2015). UNEP Financial Inquiry - Pathways to Scale. Green Economy Coalition. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/summary-unep-financial-inquiry-pathways-scale-3rd-report

Chicago

UNEP. UNEP Financial Inquiry - Pathways to Scale. Green Economy Coalition, 2015. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/summary-unep-financial-inquiry-pathways-scale-3rd-report.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=UNEP |title=UNEP Financial Inquiry - Pathways to Scale |publisher=Green Economy Coalition |date=16 March 2015 |url=https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/summary-unep-financial-inquiry-pathways-scale-3rd-report |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unep2015unep, author = {UNEP}, title = {{UNEP Financial Inquiry - Pathways to Scale}}, institution = {Green Economy Coalition}, year = {2015}, month = mar, url = {https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/summary-unep-financial-inquiry-pathways-scale-3rd-report}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }