Investors step up calls for carbon legislation

A group of investors representing $13 trillion in assets yesterday stepped up their calls for national governments to pass legislation that will accelerate the development of the low carbon economy with the release of a new statement warning that the investment community "cannot wait for a global treaty" to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

The seven-page statement from the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, the Investor Network on Climate Risk, the Investor Group on Climate Change and the UN Environment Programme, was released at a meeting hosted by the UN in New York.

It said that while negotiators should continue to work to deliver a binding international climate change treaty before the end of the year, the onus was now on national governments to take "rapid action" to introduce their own measures to tackle climate change.

Specifically, the group called on all governments to adopt short- and long-term carbon emission reduction targets, impose an effective price on carbon emissions, force companies to report on climate risks, increase investment in climate adaptation and introduce incentives and financing mechanisms to help drive spending on low carbon infrastructure.

"As powerful as these investors are, they can't underwrite a clean energy transformation at the critical scale needed without clear rules only government can provide," added Mindy S. Lubber, president of investor group Ceres and director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk. "Government policy can make clean energy cost-competitive by levelling the playing field with fossil fuels. Only government policy provides the long-term certainty that can turbo-charge private investment in clean energy, address the climate change threat and protect our planet."

Her comments were echoed by Peter Dunsombe, chairman of the IIGCC, a network of European investors, who said that the "missed opportunity" of the Copenhagen Summit underlined the need for unilateral action by individual governments. "It is more important than ever that individual governments implement regional and domestic policy change to stimulate the creation of a low carbon economy," he said "Time is of the essence, and world leaders from both developed and developing countries need to act now to compensate for the lack of progress at an international level."

The statement argued that those countries that have developed clear regulatory frameworks that act to cut emissions have enjoyed economic benefits as a result, citing the example of Germany's emergence as a clean technology hub boasting "eight times more renewable energy jobs per capita than the United States".

"Nations that address the energy challenge most effectively will quickly realise huge global economic opportunities," said Pennsylvania State Treasurer Rob McCord, who joined Lubber and other leading investors in announcing the investor statement at the UN today. "The race is on and there's a need for speed. "