Governments need to urgently address a gap in ambition to meet climate change mitigation goals under the 2015 Paris Agreement, according to 415 investors representing $32 trillion in assets under management.
The investors issued a joint statement today calling for governments to do more to meet the agreed target of “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”.
They said that currently there is an ambition gap that would lead to an unacceptably high temperature increase that would cause substantial negative economic impacts.
“This ambition gap is of great concern to investors and needs to be addressed, with urgency,” they said.
“It is vital for our long-term planning and asset allocation decisions that governments work closely with investors to incorporate Paris-aligned climate scenarios into their policy frameworks and energy transition pathways.”
The statement calls on global leaders to achieve the Paris Agreements goals, support the acceleration of private sector in the low-carbon transition and commit to improve climate-related financial reporting.