9.16.2009 12:12 PM

13 Trillion Reasons to Fight Global Warming

Global investors say they want to invest their $13 trillion in a world that isn't ravaged by runaway climate change.

As many as two-thirds of the world's polar bears may disappear within the next 50 years, as Arctic sea ice melts due to global warming.

Photo: Ansgar Walk / Wikimedia Commons

By Dan Shapley

Money talks, as they say. And in this case, 181 investors who collectively manage $13 trillion in assets (roughly four times the 2009 U.S. budget) have something to say about global warming. In a policy statement released Wednesday at the International Investor Forum on Climate Change in New York, the investors called for a "strong and binding international treaty that will reduce pollution and catalyze massive global investments in low-carbon technologies."

"I am deeply concerned about the investor risks climate change presents, and the human cost of inaction is unthinkable," said New York's Comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, who is in charge of investing the $116.5 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund. "As investors in the global economy, we can lead the way toward a future of lasting prosperity."

The investors' statement calls for the following elements to be included in a global climate change treaty:

A global target for emissions reductions of 50-85% by 2050 (1990 baseline)
Developed country emissions reduction targets of 80-95% by 2050 with interim targets of 25-40% by 2020 backed up by effective national action plans
Developing country action plans that deliver measurable and verifiable emission reductions
Government support for energy-efficient and low-carbon technology
Measures that support the move to an effective global carbon market, including ambition caps, fair and efficient allocation of allowances and links between different trading schemes
Revisions to the Clean Development Mechanism to ensure real, permanent and verifiable emission reductions
Public financing mechanisms that leverage private sector finance for investment in developing countries
Measures to reduce deforestation and promote afforestation
Support for adaptation to unavoidable climate change impacts

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