The journey to creating a sustainable banking system is neither easy nor straightforward, but with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the United Nations? Sustainable Development Goals providing a stark reminder of the urgency and scale of the challenges facing our world, it's on all of us to act. This most certainly includes the banks.

This can't be solved by any institution independently though. Instead, it is the power of collaboration across the banking sector, which embraces its full diversity of geography, scale and business lines, that presents the greatest opportunity to make a meaningful impact. We can do so much more if the industry moves together - at the same time, and in the same direction.

The Principles for Responsible Banking, developed as a partnership between the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEPFI) and 30 founding banks, provide a single, unifying framework to enable the banks to align their business practices and focus their activity in a consistent way. Barclays is proud to be part of this pioneering group that is enabling us all to take the collective reins and articulate a pathway forward.

Launched in conjunction with 130 signatory banks from across 49 countries, the support for the Principles from such a broad and diverse group of banks shows that the industry recognises both the challenges and the opportunities ahead.

If we embrace Einstein's wisdom that ?we can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking that we used when we created them?, such challenges and opportunities can only be met through innovation.

As well as looking at our own operations and supporting our clients in their transition to low carbon and more sustainable business models, Barclays is focused on supporting the pipeline of new ideas and technologies to flourish, enabling the entrepreneurs and ventures behind them to grow and thrive.