Investor funds: Tackle climate peril

DiNapoli co-hosts forum with groups holding $13 trillion; action termed good business

By Brian Nearing

Among the 181 investment fund leaders issuing the statement at a conference in New York City was state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who heads the $116 billion state pension fund, the third-largest in the nation.

“We cannot drag our feet on the issue of global climate change,” said DiNapoli. “I am deeply concerned about the investor risks climate change presents, and the human cost of inaction is unthinkable. As investors in the global economy, we can lead the way toward a future of lasting prosperity.”

The forum, co-hosted by DiNapoli, came as the United States prepares for negotiations, slated to begin in Copenhagen in December, to ratify a new international climate change treaty. The current agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, expires in 2012.

The outcome of the climate talks depends on U.S. congressional action on climate and energy legislation. The House passed a comprehensive bill in June, and Senate consideration of a similar climate bill is expected to begin within weeks.

Touted by organizers as the largest collection of investment funds ever to call for greenhouse gas limits, the $13 trillion combined total is equivalent to the entire U.S. economy for 2008. The investors’ statement called for greenhouse gas emissions to be cut globally by 50 to 85 percent by 2050, and for stepped-up government support for energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies.

A growing international scientific consensus has identified rising levels of carbon dioxide — emitted from the burning of oil, gas and coal — as the cause of climate change.

Long-term CO2 reduction targets will give investors “confidence about the future direction of climate policy. Investment decision-making is hampered by policy uncertainty and the absence of a binding reduction target,” according to the statement.

“If we fail to lead, if we adopt the attitude that we’re not going to act until enough other nations act, we will violate that duty. And we will run an even greater risk of leaving future generations a damaged planet and diminished hopes for prosperity,” said California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, whose state also signed the investors’ statement. California has the nation’s two largest public pension funds.

Other state pension funds that signed include Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

International pension funds participating included those of Sweden, South Africa and the Canadian province of British Columbia.