THE FUND JOINS WORLD INVESTORS IN CALL FOR GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE TREATY
The Fund calls for strong action against global warming
Wed Sep 23 2009
Merseyside Pension Fund has joined some of the world’s largest global investors in a call for strong action from international policy makers in the fight against global warming.
Amid the growing focus on upcoming international climate treaty talks, global investors including financial institutions, state treasurers and pension fund leaders, have issued a major policy statement calling for a strong and binding international treaty that will reduce pollution and generate massive global investments in low-carbon technologies.
Signed by 181 investors, including Merseyside Pension Fund, the investor statement is the largest of its kind about climate change.
Chair of Merseyside Pension Fund, Councillor Ann McLachlan, explained: 'Working with like-minded investors on engagement activity is central to our approach and this statement is a key landmark in the fight against global warming. As one of the biggest schemes in the UK, Merseyside Pension Fund, and the financial services community as a whole, has a critical role to play in supporting the emerging clean, green, low carbon economy.'The investor statement formalises the financial sector’s requirement for a strong, binding framework to succeed the Kyoto Protocol and calls for the following elements to be included in a global climate change treaty.
- A global target for emissions reductions of 50-85% by 2050 (1990 baseline)
- Developed country emissions reduction targets of 80-95% by 2050 with interim targets of 25-40% by 2020 backed up by effective national action plans
- Developing country action plans that deliver measurable and verifiable emission reductions
- Government support for energy efficient and low carbon technology
- Measures that support the move to an effective global carbon market, including ambition caps, fair and efficient allocation of allowances and links between different trading schemes
- Revisions to the Clean Development Mechanism to ensure real, permanent and verifiable emission reductions
- Public financing mechanisms that leverage private sector finance for investment in developing countries
- Measures to reduce deforestation and promote afforestation
- Support for adaptation to unavoidable climate change impacts
Councillor McLachlan added:
'So far, Merseyside Pension Fund has invested over £20 million in sectors such as renewable energy and sustainable forestry and we have already signed up to the United Nations’ Principles of Responsible Investment. We strongly believe that investing in a low carbon economy is part of an emerging and long-term theme, where investing in innovation will lead to strong and sustainable returns. The measures being called for in this statement will lay the foundations that we, and other investors, need to build a low carbon economy by creating strong policies that encourage clean technologies and discourage high-polluting technologies.'
Keynote speaker at the forum and British Economist, Lord Nicholas Stern, said:
'Unmitigated climate change poses a threat to the global economy, but building a low carbon economy creates opportunities for investment in new technologies that promise to transform our society in the same way as the introduction of electricity or railways did in the past.'
The September 16th forum comes in advance of key negotiations in Copenhagen this December to ratify a new international climate change treaty after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
Signatories to the statement include financial institutions, state treasurers, controllers, pension fund leaders, asset managers and foundations worldwide. The Investor Forum was sponsored by the New York State Comptroller, Ceres, the European Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), the Investors Group on Climate Change (IGCC) Australia/New Zealand, the P8 Group, and United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative.
