On the eve of the July 2017 G20 meeting, Friends Fiduciary and over 380 other investors with over $22 trillion in assets under management wrote a letter to G7 and G20 heads of state urging them to honor their Paris Agreement commitments.

Investors expressed in the letter that keeping global temperature rise under 2 degrees Celsius is imperative in avoiding disastrous social and environmental consequences with potentially catastrophic effects on the economy. Comprehensive regulation, including increased climate-related disclosure, is needed to avoid this scenario. This would allow the private sector to more fully assess the risks to portfolios as well as more efficiently take advantage of the opportunities posed by the transition to a low-carbon economy. Close private and public sector involvement is essential in driving investment in the low-carbon technologies essential to avoiding a 2 degree warming scenario.

Friends Fiduciary supports the full implementation of the Paris Agreement in order to prevent potentially devastating impacts of climate change. While we are dismayed that the current administration in the United States has withdrawn from the Agreement, we ask that international governments fulfill their commitments, which will position them competitively in the global economy for future growth as well as benefit society and the environment.

See the letter here.