Commitment To Decarbonize $100 Billion Of Investment

Share

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has invited leaders from government, finance, business and civil society to bring bold announcements and actions on climate change to the Summit. In response, a group of leading institutional investors – including two of the largest asset managers, and pension funds in Europe – have joined forces with the United Nations Environment Programme and its Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), to substantially reduce the carbon footprint of US$100 billion of institutional investment worldwide. Institutional investors are owners of large segments of the global economy. Therefore, it is expected that having a critical mass of them decarbonize their portfolios will send a strong and unequivocal signal to carbon-intensive companies that carbon-efficiency is now center-stage.

Co-founded by the UNEP and its Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), the fourth National pension fund of Sweden AP4, Europe’s largest asset manager Amundi and CDP, the most important mechanism for climate disclosure worldwide, the Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition (PDC) was announced today by AP4 CEO Mats Andersson during UN Secretary-General Bank Ki-moon’s Climate Summit.

A growing number of investors from around the world recognize that GHG emissions are an unprecedented threat to economic stability and, therefore, to their portfolios and ultimate beneficiaries. In response, the PDC will convene a critical mass of investors committed to measuring and disclosing the carbon footprint of a minimum of $500 billion of investment. Subsequently investors will commit to the PDC to substantially reduce their carbon footprint with an intermediate target of $100 billion by December 2015. As a result investors who join the Coalition will lessen their carbon exposure with regards to current annual emissions and potential emissions from current fossil fuel reserves.

The Coalition will reach out to institutional investors worldwide and it will be aided by the largest global network of investors focused on sustainable development – the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) – as well as other relevant networks.