Investors warn governments to cut coal use or face financial disaster
Over 450 asset managers present at the UN's climate change summit in Poland called on governments to cut coal use and place certain taxes on carbon emissions in order to tackle climate change.
The fund managers made their appeal on Monday at the start of the second week of the summit.
They argued that if governments fail to phase out coal, a financial crash harsher than the 2008 crisis could be in store for world economy.
In a report titled the Global Investor Statement, they alleged that governments are not doing enough to reach the goals that they set out for themselves in the Paris Climate Agreement.
"The full implementation of current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) would lead to an unacceptably high temperature increase that would cause substantial negative economic impacts," they said.
“The long-term nature of the challenge has, in our view, met a zombie-like response by many,” Chris Newton, of IFM Investors which signed the report told the Guardian.
“This is a recipe for disaster as the impacts of climate change can be sudden, severe and catastrophic,” he added.
It's expected that US President Donald Trump's energy adviser, Wells Griffith, will start his campaign on “clean coal” at the summit on Monday. The Trump White House has long been supportive of fossil fuels, withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement in 2017.
Trump’s proposals are unlikely to be welcome at the summit, where it’s expected that dozens of nations will on Thursday reaffirm their commitment to stop burning coal.