Yesterday a coalition of investors with more than $11 trillion in assets under management called on banks “to set enhanced net zero targets for 2050 or sooner with interim targets to be included, scale up green finance and withdraw from projects that fail to meet Paris Agreement goals.” The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change issued this demand via a press release that is available on their website. This call to action is just another example of the rapidly increasing pressure on banks to align their financing with the need to meet the Paris Agreement goals.
Of interest is that among the investors, there are also many asset management arms of banks or other financing sources. These include Fidelity, Handelsbanken, KBI, Nordea, Northern Trust, PIMCO, Robeco and SEB. It would be of interest to note if the asset management arms are putting the same pressure on their internal financing activities as they are putting on other financial institutions.
In any case it is clear that banks and asset managers must take seriously the goals of the Paris Agreements and ensure that their financing activities are aligned with meeting those goals.
