UN Global Compact kick-starts CFO Taskforce for the Sustainable Development Goals
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Milan, Italy
UN Global Compact kick-starts CFO Taskforce for the Sustainable Development Goals
Founding members include BASF, Braskem, Enel, Eni, FCC Construcción, Global Impact Initiative, Iberdrola, Moody’s, PIMCO, Pirelli, SkyPower, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Asset Management, Terna, Pearson, Tesco and Turkcell
MILAN, 17 December 2019 — The United Nations Global Compact today announced the kick-off of the CFO Taskforce with a two-year programme designed to put corporate finance at the centre of the Sustainable Finance agenda to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
At its SDG Investment Forum meeting held in Milan, Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) convened to kick-start a dialogue calling on business leaders to provide solutions for sustainable development and scalable SDG-related investments.
“The global CFO community and their companies manage US$14 trillion in annual investments globally, including more than US$ 7 trillion in emerging markets,” said Lise Kingo, CEO and Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. “Through our CFO Taskforce, we want to activate the CFOs as stewards of trillions in investment to focus business strategies to close the SDG financing gap."
“Our vision is to create a neutral platform for CFOs to collaborate and drive positive SDG outcomes. To achieve this, the CFO Taskforce will develop a set of Principles for SDG-aligned Corporate Finance that will make it easier for companies to integrate the SDGs into their financial strategies,” she added.
The Taskforce will aim to leverage the nearly 10,000 companies participating in the UN Global Compact and include an annual survey to monitor the state of progress in the Global CFO community. The UN Global Compact’s Sustainable Finance Team led by Marie Morice will continue to recruit more CFOs in the coming months, including through a partnership with Accounting for Sustainability’s (A4S) CFO Network.
The CFO Taskforce will be co-chaired by Enel and PIMCO in close coordination with partners such as the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), UNEP-FI, A4S, the IMP and the Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD).
The creation of the CFO Taskforce stems from a recognition of the systemic impact of sustainability on business, often requiring the transformation of entire business and production models, as well as internal investments.
Alberto De Paoli, ENEL CFO and one of the Co-Chairs of the Taskforce said, “Through this initiative, we want to give an answer to the world looking at us, not with statements or promises, but with clear targets and solid results. We want to implement a global plan of action, promoting the numerical mindset and the target-driven approach that characterize the role of CFOs, with concrete actions and leveraging on drivers such as the formulation of a SDG-aligned strategy, Sustainable Finance initiatives, relationships with Investors and Rating Agencies and the way we communicate what we do to all our stakeholders.”
The CFO Taskforce aims to address the need to create new tools for CFOs to raise capital from impact-oriented investors, and deploy capital in a way that maximizes positive impact. The Taskforce will also aim to reduce the investment gap in key markets, including through $638 billion of annual foreign direct investments (FDI) in emerging markets.
“The pace of change towards sustainable investing continues to accelerate at a remarkable rate. This effort should help strengthen investors’ assessment of risk and return, and help the investment community become an active participant in driving positive societal change,” said Scott Mather, PIMCO’s Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of U.S. Core Strategies. “We will need investors and issuers to work together to broaden the market beyond green bonds to continue this effort and support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.”
Founding Members of the UN Global Compact CFO Taskforce
- BASF
- Braskem
- Enel
- Eni
- FCC Construcción
- Global Impact Initiative
- Iberdrola
- Moody’s
- PIMCO
- Pirelli
- SkyPower
- Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Asset Management
- Terna
- Pearson
- Tesco
- Turkcell
For interview requests and media inquiries, please call Nicolo Ciocci in Milan on +39 338 730 9802 or Dan Thomas in New York on +1 917 225 1913 thomas@unglobalcompact.org
For more information on the CFO Taskforce for the SDGs, click here.