[MCN] Re climate: Encouraging update from pensions world

[Lance Olsen]

Excerpt "Climate change means insurance firms will be hit with increasing claims related to extreme weather," she said. "Fossil fuel companies could lose value as the world implements the Paris Agreement on climate change to keep to well below two degrees Celsius. Energy companies that do not make a timely low-carbon transition risk being left behind. We want to know what pension funds are doing to safeguard people's pensions from the financial risks of climate change. 

"The climate change risks of tomorrow should be considered by pension funds today. A young person autoenrolled on a pension today may be 45 years away from retirement. Over that timescale, these climate change risks will inevitably grow. We are examining whether pension funds are starting to take these risks into account in their financial decision-making.” 

Trustees have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of their beneficiaries but, the EAC said, this is often misinterpreted as seeking maximum short-term returns, leading to "the neglect of longer-term considerations - including environmental sustainability and climate change-related risks and opportunities”. 

Pensions and Lifetime Savings Assocation policy lead for stewardship and corporate goverance Luke Hildyard commented: "Numerous credible commentators from institutions such as the Bank of England, Cambridge University and many leading financial services firms have highlighted the major economic impact of climate change and the serious long-term threat that it poses to pension funds' investments. It's definitely an issue that trustees should be making time to discuss and seeking advice on.” 

https://www.professionalpensions.com/professional-pensions/news/3027746/parliamentary-committee-probesuks-top-25-pension-funds-over-climate-risk-mitigation <https://www.professionalpensions.com/professional-pensions/news/3027746/parliamentary-committee-probesuks-top-25-pension-funds-over-climate-risk-mitigation>

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“Serious thresholds are crossed when forests convert to vegetation types without trees 
and, as a result, lose valued forest ecosystem services. ”
 
Constance I. Millar and Nathan L. Stephenson. 
Temperate forest health in an era of emerging megadisturbance. Science  21 August 2015
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"… the race between climate dynamics and  climate policy will be a close one …."

Hans Joachim Schellenhuber. “Global warming: Stop worrying and start panicking?” 
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2008

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