Friday 10 May 2019

New initiative to help investors align portfolios with Paris climate goal

A new initiative has been launched by European investors to explore how portfolios can be aligned to the goals of the Paris climate agreement.

The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) says the initiative aims to help develop a common understanding of the concepts relating to the alignment with the climate change goal and explore options for approaches and methods that can be used by investors.

It will initially develop working definitions for key concepts and explore the feasibility of the different approaches and test the most promising ones as well as identify the financial characteristics of the portfolios and transition options in the context of wider financial risks.

The initiative is delivered as part of the IIGCC’s ‘Investor Practices’ programme which helps asset owners and managers better assess and manage both climate risk and opportunity and report on their actions more effectively.

IIGCC CEO Stephanie Pfeifer said: “Investors increasingly recognise the role they can play in supporting decarbonisation of the global economy. Putting this int practice, however, is a different matter. This new initiative will help investors to understand what it means to align investment portfolios with the Paris Agreement and what steps they can take across different asset classes.”