How will climate change affect investment decisions?
With the UN Climate Action Summit taking place in New York, Simon Webber explains why climate change is such an important factor when choosing an investment.
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Today is the UN Climate Action Summit for 2019. Heads of state from countries around the world are gathering in New York to discuss plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow the pace of global warming.
This follows a day of global climate protests on Friday 20 September, including the now-regular “Fridays For Future” school strikes started by teenage Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
- Read more here about Greta Thunberg, “flight shame” and the impact of climate change on Swedish airlines.
Taking account of climate change is becoming increasingly important when making investment decisions too. In the short video above, fund manager Simon Webber explains why.
“Climate change is important to investors because we are in a period of very significant change.
“The goals set out in the Paris agreement to tackle climate change require a complete decarbonisation of the global economy.
“That means all kinds of industries will need new production technologies and new ways of manufacturing.
“That will require a whole new set of products, services and technologies than we have used in the past.
“We think it will be very important for investors to avoid the industries and the companies that are not well positioned for that change.
Why is this important now?
“Some of the most important climate change technologies, such as renewable energy or electric vehicles, have come of age.
“The cost of these technologies have come down to the point that they are competitive, rather than requiring a lot of subsidy or taxpayer funding.
“They are the cheapest forms of power generation. In the case of electric vehicles, they will be the cheapest form of mobility.
“That means we can begin to meet our objectives under the climate change agreement with competitive technologies. And that means the inflection points, the growth of those technologies, can be incredibly strong.”
This article is issued by Cazenove Capital which is part of the Schroders Group and a trading name of Schroder & Co. Limited, 1 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.
Nothing in this document should be deemed to constitute the provision of financial, investment or other professional advice in any way. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. The value of an investment and the income from it may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amount originally invested.
This document may include forward-looking statements that are based upon our current opinions, expectations and projections. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements.
All data contained within this document is sourced from Cazenove Capital unless otherwise stated.
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