LONDON, May 4 (Reuters) - The world's richest nations must
ensure their COVID-19 recovery plans are sustainable and help
meet the goals of the Paris climate accord, according to leading
global investor groups that together manage trillions of dollars
in assets.
While some members of the world's 20 biggest economies such
as Britain, France and Germany have made statements about doing
just that, some of the biggest emitters such as China and the
United States have yet to do so.
The intervention comes as more governments start to plan for
the lifting of lockdown restrictions that have cratered the
revenues of companies from airlines to retailers and radically
changed the economics of the energy sector.
The groups said private capital would play a key role in the
recovery, but investors needed long-term policies to be put in
place that reflected the agreed move to a low-carbon economy.
"Recovery plans that exacerbate climate change would expose
investors and national economies to escalating financial, health
and social risks in the coming years," they said in a statement
said on Monday.
"Governments should avoid the prioritisation of risky,
short-term emissions-intensive projects," added the groups,
which include the Institutional Investor Group on Climate
Change, members of which include BlackRock.
Recovery money would be best spent on creating jobs and
sustainable infrastructure that helped meet the goal of net zero
carbon emissions across sectors including energy, industrials,
building and transport, they said.
Also signing the statement, under the collective group known
as the Investor Agenda, were the United Nations-backed
Principles for Responsible Investment, Ceres, CDP, Investor
Group on Climate Change, Asia Investor Group on Climate Change
and the UNEP Finance Initiative.
The statement follows similar calls for a green recovery in
recent days from International Monetary Fund Managing Director
Kristalina Georgieva and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, among
others.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week urged the
G20 to do more calling for "brave, visionary and collaborative
leadership" to use COVID-19 relief money to accelerate the
decarbonisation of the world economy.
The G20 collectively accounted for more than 80% of global
emissions and over 85% of the global economy, and without a
contribution by the biggest emitters, global efforts risked
being doomed to failure, he said.
(Reporting by Simon Jessop and Kate Abnett; Editing by Pravin
Char)