A climate change action plan to boost investment in energy efficiency and clean energy technologies has been released by 49 European and US institutional investors.
The investors, who collectively manage more than $1.75trillion (£874billion) in assets, are also supported ‘in principle’ by a group of European investors with managed assets worth $6.5tn.
The plan commits signatories, which include American International Group, F&C, Rockefeller & Co and a number of US state pension funds, to collectively invest $10bn in clean technology during the next two years and to incorporate energy efficiency considerations into their investment decisions.
They will also press companies to make improvements, acting on data from a McKinsey consultancy study that suggests a $170bn annual investment in energy efficiency by business worldwide would yield a 17 per cent return, or $29bn. Most of the signatories belong to the Investor Network on Climate Risk, run by the US-based Ceres coalition of investors, environmental groups and other public interest bodies.
