Institutional investors are coming to realise their relationship to the dangers and opportunities posed by climate change. In their roles and responsibilities managing pension and insurance funds, long-term risks and trends have a direct bearing on their decisions.

15 institutional investors signed the statement on 3 October, who collectively manage £850 million(€1.27 billion) worth of assets, according to the Financial Times.

Further to making climate - friendly investment decisions, the institutional investors group pledges to use its influence to “encourage governments to adopt policies that provide incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” It calls for governments to “establish a policy framework that sets clear and challenging yet achievable international targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions for the short, medium and long-term that will enable atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases to be stabilized at a level that averts the most significant risks of climate change, and that provides the necessary mechanisms and institutions for the delivery of these targets.”

The group has been brought together by ‘The Climate Group,’ a London based NGO striving to put climate change action high on business and government agendas. New recruits to the group include Chris Walker, Swiss Re’s head of sustainability business development, who has taken on an 18 month secondment based in New York, and Chris Leigh, who was head of national climate change policy at the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, also on secondment.