The UN Foundation’s work with Institutional Investors on Climate Risk

Timothy Wirth, President of the UN Foudnation, leads discussions at the Investor Summit

At the meeting, eight state and city treasurers and comptrollers and two major labor pension fund leaders issued a 10 point “call to action” recommending new steps by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), corporate boards and Wall Street firms to increase corporate disclosure of the risks posed to investors by climate change. These investors also announced the creation of an Investor Network on Climate Risk to promote better understanding of the risks of climate change among institutional investors and to follow through on the “call to action.”

Since the first Institutional Investor Summit on Climate Risk, momentum has continued to build among investors to advocate for improved disclosure of climate risk. INCR has successfully catalyzed improved disclosure and governance practices from major greenhouse gas-emitting companies, made substantial contributions to international investor networks on climate change and established itself as the preeminent investor network on climate change in the United States. UNF and Ceres have initiated a dialogue with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the need to expand their existing definition of material risks to investors, as reported in SEC filings, to include climate risk. The two organizations have similarly reached out to Wall Street leaders to identify further actions to engage the investment community. Finally, shareholder initiatives have produced unprecedented agreements by several companies to disclose the financial risks they face from climate change.

Hundreds of investment, financial and corporate leaders gathered in the Economic and Social Chamber of the United Nations to consider climate change risks and opportunities

On May 10, 2005, UNF organized the second Institutional Investor Summit on Climate Risk to build on the groundbreaking success of the first Summit. More than 300 institutional investors, brokerage firm representatives, asset managers, and others financial sector representatives met at UN Headquarters to discuss climate risks to portfolios and opportunities to realize investments in climate mitigating activities. 23 institutional investors in the U.S. (Calpers, the state pension fund for the state of California) and abroad (the London Pensions Authority) announced a 10-point action plan. This plan includes committing $1 billion in capital for prudent investments and asking investment banks that they do business with them to provide better analysis of climate-change risks for the companies they cover.

The United Nations Environment Programme and Ceres, who is spearheading the summit, also announced three areas of cooperation over the next year, including establishing a forum for international discussion.

Back to initiatives