Five European institutional investors awarded funding to gain insight into the climate impact of their investments
The winning organizations will receive an analysis of the emissions of greenhouse gases associated with their investments, undertaken by South Pole Carbon. CDP will provide further elaboration on the risks and details of the climate change governance and performance of companies within the portfolio.
The organizations were selected based on their potential to have a lighthouse effect on others in their respective industries and on the opportunity to enhance their climate change knowledge. Steven Tebbe of CDP states: “This is a great opportunity to help investors to understand how their investments impact on climate change including a mix of different geographical and operational models”.
The five winning organizations are:
• The Central Church Fund of Finland Pension Fund, Finland
• Fondazione Cariplo, Italy
• The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, UK
• The Church of Sweden, Sweden
• de Pury Pictet Turrettini & Cie SA, Switzerland
The variety among organizations receiving these awards – asset manager, pension plan, church fund and two foundations - shows the opportunities for catalyzing change throughout the investment community:
Ira van der Pals, Chief Investment Officer, The Central Church of Finland Pension Fund
“The Church Pension Fund has been working with responsible investing for many years and we continuously strive to bring new information on best practice to our asset managers and industry peers. This climate impact assessment of our investments will give us a new tool to continue this work.”
Francesco Lorenzetti, Chief Financial Officer at Cariplo Foundation
“It has become evident that also the preservation of Cariplo Foundation's assets in the long-term requires a deeper control of long-term risks. This evidence suggests to develop new SRI methodologies for measuring the environmental and social impact of our investments policy. This is the reason we are happy to start up this new journey in the measurement of environmental externalities.”
Susan Seymour, Chair of Investment Committee at Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust
“As a foundation which strives to be a responsible investor, the climate impact of our investments is of real concern to us. We are delighted to have the opportunity to identify this impact and the associated risks with a view to improving our overall performance. We look forward to sharing our learning with others, particularly our peer foundations.”
Gunnela Hahn, Head of Responsible Investment, Church of Sweden
We have a strong commitment to work on climate change, since it is a huge threat to civilization. As a Church, we see the need for hope. Through our investments we want to be part of the solutions. We already adjusted our portfolio to climate risks and opportunities, and hope to get our case even stronger so that we can present it better to others in the investment industry.
Melchior de Muralt, Managing Partner, De Pury Pictet Turrettini & Co. Ltd
“De Pury Pictet Turrettini & Co. Ltd is proud to announce that its fund, the Guilé European Engagement Fund, has been selected for a thorough climate impact assessment. We are looking forward to learn more about our fund’s impact and to conduct a fruitful dialogue with the involved experts. Openness lies at the heart of an engagement fund.”
Members of the jury are:
CDP Europe, WWF Switzerland, Forum Nachhaltige Geldanlagen, yourSRI, Stiftung & Nachhaltigkeit, Climate-KIC, South Pole Carbon.
For further information and to read the full News Release follow this link