The world might be shifting to clean energy, but governments need to do "much more" to tackle climate change, a group of 631 institutional investors said Monday during the United Nations Climate Conference in Madrid.
In a joint statement, members of the Investor Agenda, who manage a collective $37 trillion in assets, called on governments around the world to phase out thermal coal power, put a price on carbon, end subsidies for fossil fuels and take other steps to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Investor communities are "very active" in the call to action on climate change, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told conference attendees.
Members of the Investor Agenda, who are working to accelerate investor actions worldwide to help achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, are focusing on four areas: investment, corporate engagement, investor disclosure and policy advocacy.
"Investors are clear that governments should be much more ambitious in addressing climate change," said Stephanie Pfeifer, CEO of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, an Investor Agenda member, in a statement. Without more ambitious government goals that can be supported by investible policy, "climate change as a risk to financial stability will continue to ratchet," said Investor Group on Climate Change CEO Emma Herd in the same statement.
On Dec. 6, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats criticized President Donald Trump for inaction on climate change and promised to aggressively push legislation to tackle climate change.
Mr. Trump has promised to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, and Ms. Pelosi and other congressional Democrats attended the Madrid summit to calm concerns that the United States is abandoning the effort.
Ms. Pelosi created the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis to analyze threats from climate change and offer a report on possible actions that will form the basis of the legislation. The report is expected in the spring.
