Press release: “Nearly 50 leading U.S. and European institutional investors managing over $1.75 trillion in assets…released a climate change action plan at the United Nations that will boost investments in energy efficiency and clean energy technologies and require tougher scrutiny of carbon-intensive investments that may pose long-term financial risks. Additionally, European investors managing $6.5 trillion in assets supported the action plan “in principle.” The action plan was announced at the Investor Summit on Climate Risk, hosted by Ceres and the United Nations Foundation, attended by more than 450 investor, financial and corporate leaders from around the world. Signatories to the action plan include state treasurers, controllers, pension fund leaders, asset managers and foundations from London, California, Florida, New York, Connecticut, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and a dozen other states.”

• Investor Network on Climate Risk Action Plan – Capitalizing the New Energy Future: Minimizing Climate Risks, Seizing Opportunities
• “A new McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report, The Case for Investing in Energy Productivity, also announced at the investor summit, concludes that major investments over the next decade in energy productivity — the level of output achieved from the energy consumed — could earn double-digit rates of return for investors. Such investments would cut global energy demand growth by at least half and achieve up to half of the reductions of greenhouse gas emissions that experts say is required to prevent the world’s mean temperature from increasing by more than 2 degrees centigrade.”
• Related postings on climate change