Investors push politicians for Bali post-2012 climate action

Leading global institutional investors with assets of almost €4 trillion are urging politicians at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali to make substantial progress on a post-2012 climate treaty that would allow them to invest in long-term projects to reduce carbon emissions and counter climate change dangers.
In a letter sent to the heads of state of the world’s largest economies and to the heads of the delegations attending the Bali conference, the investors, representing some of the biggest pension funds and asset managers in Europe and Australia, said early agreement on post-2012 climate policy was essential for them to plan how to respond to the risks and opportunities posed by global warming.
The letter was jointly signed by Europe’s Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, which includes ABP and PGGM in the Netherlands as well as a slew of UK pension funds, and the Australian/New Zealand Investor Group on Climate Change.
Combined assets of the signatories to the two organisations are just short of €4 trillion.
The letter said investors needed a clear policy framework including agreement on targets for the stabilisation of temperatures or concentrations of greenhouse gases inthe atmosphere that would avoid dangerous climate change scenarios that could damage existing investments.
It said these might include ambitious carbon emissions reduction targets for industrialised countries and an expanded global carbon market.
The investor groups said world leaders should reach agreement for such a framework by 2009 at the latest.
Peter Dunscombe, chairman of the IIGCC, and investment chief at the BBC pension scheme, said: “Investors need clarity about the long-term policy framework directed at reducing carbon emissions and encouraging adaptation. Without this, we cannot plan effectively how to channel investments towards a low carbon economy.”
Roderick Munsters, chief investment officer at ABP, said: ”We are already investing substantial sums in renewable energy and low-carbon technologies. But real progress in Bali will enable us to plan with confidence and expand our efforts. We urge the world’s governments to show real leadership over the next ten days in taking bold steps to address climate change.”
Read the letter here