The climate change issue is rising and becoming a pressing matter for all sustainability professionals. Its drastic rise along with the acknowledgement of the insurers that climate-related factors have to be identified and reevaluated, business need to be more prepared and reliable on their sustainability plans. A group of more than 400 investors that manage $32 trillion in assets warned governments to take aggressive steps and address climate change. If this climate change is not dealt with there is a risk of a financial crash several times worse than the 2008 global recession.
The world is now facing an economic crash twice the scale of the 2008 financial crisis unless more is done to tackle climate change. Failure to tackle climate change would lead to temperature rises of around 4˚C and £18trillion in global economic losses over the next 80 years.
“The full implementation of current NDCs would lead to an unacceptably high temperature increase that would cause substantial negative economic impacts,” the statement says.
“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.”
This investor group includes some of the world’s largest pension funds, asset managers and insurance companies, along with state treasurers and venture capital funds. The call from investors came just one day after the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait worked to dismiss recent scientific findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which concluded that the world has just over a decade to stop the worse impacts of climate change.
Investors’ mentioned that it would be important for all workers and communities to share the benefits of cleaner energy sources, making sure that everyone affected by this transition is supported.
This crucial intervention comes after a UN report last month warned that nations must triple their emission cuts to meet the Paris Agreement and keep global warming below 2˚C.
By demand, CSE will be back in London, UK, March 14-15, 2019. This certified practitioner program will feature a presentation of the Surprising Research Findings 2018 on Sustainability Goals Integration and Sustainability (CR) Impact. The research focuses on reporting practices of more than 460 corporations from leading business sectors and outlines key considerations related to common strategic objectives, social impact goals, UN SDG’s, reporting and external assurance practices as well as legislation.
Key sustainability challenges and priorities are an integral part of the London Sustainability Training coming up next in Europe.