$9.5 trillion investor alliance says emissions cuts aligned to 1.5C

The UN-organized Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, a group of institutional investors with total assets under management of $9.5 trillion, said on Wednesday that its members have on average reduced their absolute greenhouse gas emissions financed by more than 6% annually, consistently. with paths aligned at 1.5°C.

The alliance, launched in 2019 at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in New York, today issued a call to action for governments to “respond urgently to systemic climate risk”.

“Alliance members have consistently demonstrated high climate ambition through their mid-term targets and demonstrated credible progress in implementing climate change,” the group said in a statement.

“The latest data shows that, consistent with the 1.5°C aligned pathways, Alliance members have on average reduced their absolute funded greenhouse gas emissions by more than 6% annually.”

However, achieving net zero commitments by 2050 depends on policy and the real economy keeping pace. Current policies put the world on track for a temperature rise of 2.4°C–2.6°C by the end of the century, according to the alliance.

“This group of investors is taking their role in making the Paris Agreement happen, and if everyone did the same, we would really make progress,” Remco Fischer, climate leader at the United Nations Environment Program Financing Initiative (UNEP FI) , Bloomberg said in an interview on Wednesday.

The alliance on Wednesday called on governments to phase out all existing coal-fired power generation on an ongoing basis, following 1.5°C pathways, and to design and implement fair carbon pricing mechanisms aligned with the Paris Agreement.

The investor group also calls for the expansion of blended finance to facilitate global financial flows to emerging markets and developing economies (EDMEs), which are particularly vulnerable to climate change.

The 88 current members of the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owners Alliance have committed to transition their investment portfolios to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, in line with their duties to manage significant financial and investment risks.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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