Investment funds controlling US$37 trillion in global assets are failing to meet climate goals, says think tank InfluenceMap
- Analysis of 50,000 listed funds controlled by 150 finance giants found US$8.2 trillion of holdings in oil and gas, coal mining, car manufacturing and electric power
- Funds were still tending towards investing in companies deploying so-called “brown technologies”, and that they were under investing in renewables and other green tech
The world’s largest investment funds – controlling a mammoth US$37 trillion in assets – are failing to bring their portfolios in line with the Paris climate goals, new analysis showed on Wednesday.
The funds control portfolios containing a fifth of the total value of world capital markets, yet their investments in sectors such as cars and coal puts them “significantly at odds” with the Paris aim of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), the Britain-based think tank InfluenceMap said.
Experts analysed 50,000 listed funds controlled by 150 finance giants and found US$8.2 trillion of holdings in oil and gas, coal mining, car manufacturing and electric power.
InfluenceMap found that within those sectors the funds were still tending towards investing in companies deploying so-called “brown technologies”, and that they were under investing in renewables and other green tech.
“The majority of companies in these sectors are very far from aligning their business models to meet the goals of Paris,” it said.