28 January 2016
Investor Summit Focuses on Advancing the Clean Trillion
Photo by IISD/ENB
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Participants at the 2016 Investor Summit on Climate Risk encouraged further investments and actions to catalyze a shift to a low-carbon future and achieve the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The Summit recognized the critical role of global investors in addressing climate risks and increasing clean energy financing.

It also called for global investment portfolios to shift away from risky, high-carbon sectors towards low-carbon activities.

investor_summit27 January 2016: Participants at the 2016 Investor Summit on Climate Risk encouraged further investments and actions to catalyze a shift to a low-carbon future and achieve the Paris Agreement on climate change. The Summit recognized the critical role of global investors in addressing climate risks and increasing clean energy financing. It also called for global investment portfolios to shift away from risky, high-carbon sectors towards low-carbon activities.

Ceres, the UN Foundation and the UN Office for Partnerships (UNOPS) hosted the Summit, which took place on 27 January 2016, at UN Headquarters in New York, US. Over 500 global investors and other stakeholders attended the biennial Summit, which convened under the theme, ‘Advancing the Clean Trillion.’

Observing that “there seems to be a tendency to believe that now that the Paris Agreement is done, it is now government,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized that “real action starts now.” He called on the business community and civil society to remain engaged, scale up investments in clean energy and energy efficiency, and advocate for government action.

To implement the Paris Agreement, Ban stressed the need for: investors to finance developing countries’ national climate plans; pension funds to use their influence to accelerate a decarbonized economy; the banking sector to support green investments, reflect the risk in the brown economy and scale up green bonds; the insurance industry to strengthen disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate resilience efforts; and investors to analyze how climate impacts can affect companies, sectors and financial markets and then disclose these risks.

He also urged governments to “create a level playing field for clean energy investment” through carbon pricing and ending fossil fuel subsidies, and challenged investors to double their clean energy investments by 2020.

Ceres President Mindy Lubber called on investors to set ambitious clean energy investment commitments, reduce carbon risk exposure in their portfolios, encourage regulators to implement mandatory climate risk disclosure requirements, and advocate for ending fossil fuel subsidies and promoting carbon pricing. Michael Bloomberg, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, recommended providing reliable information to investors about climate change to facilitate informed decision making and drive financing for “projects that reduce carbon pollution and promote sustainable economic growth.”

The Summit showcased innovative solutions and commitments to transition towards a low-carbon economy. ABP, a Dutch pension fund, announced its goal to quadruple clean energy investments to ‎€5 billion by 2020 and to reduce its equity portfolio’s carbon footprint by 25%. ERAFP, a French pension fund, said it will put pressure on corporations to switch from fossil fuel energy sources towards 100% renewable sources.

The electric power sector represents a US$12 trillion opportunity for renewable energy over the next 25 years, according to ‘Mapping the Gap: The Road from Paris,’ a publication by Ceres and Bloomberg New Energy Finance released at the Summit. The report predicts that investments in renewable energy projects in the electric sector, particularly solar and wind power in emerging markets, will surge by US$500 billion per year above current levels. To achieve the Paris Agreement’s temperature goals, the report recommends doubling global clean energy investment in the electric sector by 2020. [Ceres Press Release] [UN Secretary-General Statement] [Summit Website] [Publication: Mapping the Gap] [Webcast]


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