Markets face major risks over lax climate forecasts, top investors warn
Source: Reuters
ENVIRONMENT SEPTEMBER 22, 2019 / 8:14 PM / UPDATED 5 HOURS AGO
Markets face major risks over lax climate forecasts, top investors warn
Ron Bousso
4 MIN READ
LONDON (Reuters) - Financial markets risk major disruptions by relying on business-as-usual forecasts that underestimate the impact of climate-change policies that are expected to abruptly tighten next decade, a leading group of investors has warned.
The report by the U.N.-backed Principles of Responsible Investing (PRI), representing investors with $86 trillion of assets under management, joins a growing chorus of warnings that forecasts and investments by oil and gas companies are out of sync with the pace needed to meet energy transition targets.
The International Energy Agency’s central outlook, which underpins many government and business projections, is not aligned with targets set out in the 2015 Paris climate agreement to limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius by slashing greenhouse gas emissions, the PRI warned.
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Scientists view a rise of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius in the Earth’s average temperature as a tipping point where climate impacts such as sea-level rise, natural disasters, forced migration, failed harvests and deadly heatwaves will rapidly start to intensify.
PRI released a new forecast which it said “aims to fundamentally reset investors’ forward-looking risk management, strategic asset allocation and company engagement.”
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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-investors/markets-face-major-risks-over-lax-climate-forecasts-top-investors-warn-idUSKBN1W8006