Investors worth $32 trillion call on world leaders to step up on climate change

Global investors today called on governments around the world to step up action to address climate change. 415 investors, with $32 trillion in assets-under-management, are behind the call-to-action as signatories of the 2018 Global Investor Statement to Governments on Climate Change.

The ‘Global Investor Statement’ reaches globalleaders as the United Nation’s COP24 global climate change conference in Poland enters its second week, and is the single largest policy intervention from investors on climate change. The Statement asks governments to strengthen their Nationally Determined Contributions to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and to enact policies to facilitate the world’s transition to a low-carbon economy.

Three overarching priorities are highlighted in the Statement for global leaders to address: achieving the Paris Agreement’s goals; accelerating private sector investment into the low carbon transition and committing to improve climate-related financial reporting. Additional detail is provided in an accompanying briefing paper also shared with leaders.

Among specific policies, the investors request governments “phase out thermal coal power”, “put a meaningful price on carbon” and “phase out fossil fuel subsidies.”

Investors highlight the “ambition gap” the U.N. has determined exists between governments’ commitments and what is needed to deliver on the goals of the Paris Agreement – in limiting global warming to well below 2°C – and ensuring the necessary transition to a low-carbon economy. They stress their “great concern” about the gap, noting consequences of an otherwise “unacceptably high temperature increase” and “substantial negative economic impacts.”

Without greater action, Schroders, which is a signatory to the statement, point to long-run temperature rises of around 4°C, with $23 trillion of associated global economic losses over the next 80 years. This is permanent economic damage three or four times the scale of the impacts of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, while continuing to escalate.