The absence of U.S. institutional investors at the UN’s Cancun climate change talks was a telling sign that there wasn’t much hope for a major treaty that would dramatically shift the risk/reward equation for climate-related investing. While their European counterparts advocated for a strong carbon-reducing accord in Cancun, U.S. investors largely stayed at home, where lackluster returns and long-term pension obligations are their more immediate concerns.
Though there were silver linings in the negotiations involving nearly 200 nations, they still failed to produce a legally binding agreement for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. That means there will continue to be only limited opportunities for low-carbon green investing worldwide. “I can’t do anything unless it serves the best interests of my membership,” says Ole Beier Sorensen, chief of strategy and research at the $90 billion Danish pension fund ATP, bemoaning the lack of an international climate accord during a Cancun panel discussion. “We need clear and sustained long-term policy commitments.”
Read more at Responsible Investor.com
No comments:
Post a Comment