2010 Investor Statement on Catalyzing Investment in a Low-Carbon Economy: Investors Urge Policymakers to Act Swiftly

Despite the clear policy recommendations in the 2009 Investor Statement on the Urgent Need for a Global Agreement on Climate Change, policymakers made only incremental progress in Copenhagen, leaving a great deal of work to be done to address the risks that climate change presents to the global economy and to investments. Meaningful policy progress is required to accelerate private investment in a low carbon economy.

On the global level, it is imperative that efforts advance this year to negotiate and conclude a legally binding agreement with ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. But investors, businesses, and governments cannot wait for a global treaty before taking action.

Countries must take steps now if they are to attract the sizable amount of private investment needed to be competitive in the global race to develop and transition to low-carbon technologies. Investors and businesses have been and will continue taking significant action to address climate risks and opportunities, but to enable the necessary flows of private capital and allow us to fully assist in achieving a low-carbon and sustainable global economy, policymakers around the world must take rapid action at national, regional, and international levels.

The following measures are critical:

• Short and long-term emission reduction targets.
• Policies that put an effective price on carbon such that businesses and investors reassess investment value and redirect their investments.
• Energy and transportation policies to vastly accelerate deployment of energy efficiency, renewable energy, green buildings, clean vehicles and fuels, and low-carbon transportation infrastructure.
• Financing mechanisms that can mobilize private-sector investment on a large scale, particularly in developing countries.
• Measures and financing to support adaptation in developing and developed countries.
• Policies requiring corporate disclosure to investors of material climate-related risks and programs to manage those risks.

Investors remain committed to taking action. For us to deploy capital at the scale needed to truly catalyze a low-carbon economy, however, policymakers must act swiftly.

Download the full statement at: http://www.ceres.org/Document.Doc?id=520