A new report from PwC Switzerland and WWF Switzerland, Nature is too big to fail - Biodiversity: the next frontier in financial risk management, finds that the financial risks associated with the loss of biodiversity will become increasingly important in 2020, especially in the lead up to the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in October in Kunming, China. The report suggests a typology of four financial biodiversity-related financial risks (physical, transition, litigation and systemic risks); highlights lessons learned regarding climate-related financial risks; provides a framework on how to integrate biodiversity losses into the classical risk framework of financial institutions; and suggests recommendations to financial regulators/central banks, financial market players and states/international organizations.

The Green Digital Finance Alliance has released its second country report in the Focus Note Series on Fintech for Sustainability, with a focus on Germany. Germany was selected as a test country because of the country's position as a regulatory frontrunner in the digital economy with a Data Ethics Commission recently issuing AI principles and as the largest European country to date with a blockchain strategy. The report offers five key findings: fintechs are the sustainable digital finance champions in Germany; Germany is an SDG 7 fintech innovation frontrunner; the German fintech innovation ecosystem has incentivized the design of SDG robo-advisory and algorithmic investing services; there is a high degree of alignment between the supply side of SDF fintech and the country's SDG priorities; and there is a limited degree of policy integration around sustainable fintechs.

The Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction released the 2019 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction, which tracks progress made towards sustainability in the buildings and construction sector. The report shows that the sector is not on track with the level of climate action necessary, and that final energy demand in buildings in 2018 rose 1% from 2017, and 7% from 2010. The report then points to exemplary country, city and private sector actions as well as examples of how the buildings and construction sector is reforming. It also provides a series of regional roadmaps, highlighting regionally appropriate actions across eight priority areas: urban planning, new buildings, retrofits for existing buildings, building operations, materials, resilience of buildings, clean energy, and appliances, lighting, cooking and systems.  

UNEP and the International Resources Panel (IRP) have released a summary for policymakers of the report Resource Efficiency and Climate Change: Material Efficiency Strategies for a Low-carbon Future. The report assesses the reduction potential of greenhouse gas emissions from material efficiency strategies applied in residential buildings and light-duty vehicles. It discusses why policy intervention is necessary and explores policy options including taxation, zoning and land-use regulation, along with the integration of material efficiency considerations into existing nationally determined contributions (NDCs). It also argues that more rigorous, comprehensive monitoring and evaluation of policies are needed to drive successful policy development.

The Smart Prosperity Institute has released the report Eight Reasons for Canada to Build a Clean Economy Now . The report demonstrates why the  shift toward a low-pollution, innovative, resource-efficient economy is the opportunity of the century, and outlines  eight reasons why accelerating this transition is the path to prosperity for Canada. It argues that strong environmental performance is becoming a competitive advantage,  global market opportunities and jobs in the clean economy are growing fast, innovation and efficient use of resources lowers costs, and the conservation and protection of natural capital  can create significant savings by avoiding the need to restore destroyed, degraded and contaminated resources.  

Environment at a Glance is the OECD's web platform for environmental indicators. It provides real-time, interactive online access to the latest comparable OECD country data on the environment from the OECD Core Set of Environmental Indicators - a tool to evaluate environmental performance in countries and to track the course towards sustainable development. These indicators provide key messages on major environmental trends in areas such as climate change, biodiversity, water resources, air quality and the circular economy. The indicators will be accompanied by a short Environment at a Glance report that presents a digest of the key messages stemming from the indicators.  

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The Global Opportunity Explorer, a joint project of Sustainia, DNV GL, and the UN Global Compact, maps cutting-edge innovation and new markets to help business leaders, entrepreneurs and investors connect with new partners, projects and markets to foster more partnerships for the SDGs. It also showcases 300 of the most innovative urban climate solutions from cities around the world. The solutions are included in the 2015, 2016 and 2017 editions of the Cities100 report series.

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