Pensions Go Green - Happy Earth Day!
According to "Fighting Climate Change, State by State" by Anne Moore Odell (February 27, 2008), local governments are investing in environmentally-friendly companies for the long-term. Various treasurers from California to Connecticut have collectively committed billions of dollars to clean technologies. Evidence that they mean business, nearly 500 institutions came together in New York on February 14, 2008 to address the "scale and urgency of climate change risks, as well as the economic opportunities of a global transition to a clean energy future."
Progress since the 2005 inception of the Investor Network on Climate Risk ("INCR") includes an agreement to verify if, and to what extent, fund managers and financial advisors have bettered their "capacity to assess climate risk." For mutual funds, this includes an annual scorecard that reflects how portfolio managers vote on various shareholder proposals relating to climate.
To learn more, click to read "Investor Progress on Climate Risks & Opportunities: Results Achieved Since the 2005 Investor Summit on Climate Risk at the United Nations," dated February 2008.
Given statehouse initiatives relating to (a) divestment of certain international holdings and (b) limits on sovereign wealth fund exposure, is the commitment to being a friend of the earth a harbinger of future asset allocation directives or good portfolio diversification?
