Investors Ratcheting up Their Contributions to Climate Action

As world leaders and government representatives continue negotiations to hammer out a global climate deal at COP21 in Paris, institutional investors are ratcheting up their contributions in a number of areas.

More than 400 investors with a collective US$ 24 trillion in assets under management have now signed the Global Investor Statement on Climate Change. The statement is a call to action that sets out the steps that investors can and will take to address climate change alongside six specific policy responses from governments that would allow investor actions, including low-carbon investments, to be scaled up even further.

The last week has seen significant milestones in four of the key investor activities: more than 115 investors have pledged to measure and disclose their carbon footprint via the Montréal Pledge. The Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition’s US$100 billion target has been exceeded by $130 billion as 23 investors now work to reduce their financed emissions, while more than $50 billion in low carbon investments are now registered on the Low Carbon Investment Registry.

The Investor Platform for Climate Actions continues to be the home of all these initiatives and will be updated regularly throughout and beyond COP21 to reflect new announcements as they take place.

CEO Perspectives on COP21 and the role of business: BT Group