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The 2008 Investor Summit on Climate Risk will bring together more than 450 institutional investors, Wall Street leaders and CEOs from around the world to consider the scale and urgency of climate change risks, as well as the economic opportunities of a global transition to a clean energy future.

Purpose

The purpose of the Summit is to provide a high-level forum for state treasurers, leading institutional investors, and financial services firms from around the world to consider the scale and urgency of climate change risks, as well as the economic opportunities of a global transition to a clean energy future.

Objectives

• Examine recent scientific findings on climate risk and technological solutions
• Assess potential capital flows into energy efficiency and clean technologies
• Learn how treasurers, institutional investors and financial services firms worldwide are factoring climate risk into their policies and strategies
• Consider prudent steps investors can take to address climate risk and opportunities

Background

The 2008 Summit builds on the groundbreaking success of the first two UN Investor Summits on November 21, 2003, and May 10, 2005. Hundreds of institutional investors and asset managers from around the world, representing trillions of dollars in assets, attended the previous Summits. The information they shared raised profound concerns about investor exposure to climate risk, the future security of investment assets, and the fiduciary duty to take prudent steps to address climate risk on behalf of shareholders and beneficiaries. Information on previous Summits can be found at the Investor Network on Climate Risk website.

Climate Risk – and Opportunity

Climate change poses regulatory, legal, physical and competitive risks for companies. In the two years since the 2005 Summit there has been a growing recognition that climate change presents serious risks, not only for businesses and investments, but also for the global economy. Left unattended, risks from climate change will worsen over time, harming company assets and global investment portfolios. Leading economists, investors, and business leaders have stated recently that the costs of action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are both affordable and significantly lower than the costs of inaction. Where there are risks, there are also opportunities, and the business opportunities posed by addressing climate change are significant. With the proper government policies and market conditions, low-carbon technologies that are available today could be more broadly deployed, and significant reductions in emissions could be achieved over the next few decades—all while creating vast new economic opportunities and new jobs.

The UN brought a group of twelve bloggers to the event, most of whom are professional staffers; the UN Dispatch blog offers a jump-off point for the coverage.

The dozen bloggers include three from the Center for American Progress: Kate Sheppard and Ezra Klein from TAPPED and Kay Steiger from Campus Progress, as well as Gristmill’s Brian Beutler, the Atlantic.com’s Matthew Yglesias, Treehugger’s Jasmin Chua, Boing Boing Gadgets’ Joel Johnson, the Washington Note’s Sameer Lalwani, Global Voices Online’s Juliana “Tweets” Rotich, and Foreign Policy Passport’s Blake Hounshell.

Links to their posts are after the jump.

The UN climate change “high-level event”, “The Future In Our Hands, is ongoing, webcast online.

The New York Times has coverage, as does the BBC.

California is moving the United States beyond debate and doubt to action. The time has come to stop looking back in blame or suspicion. The consequences of global climate change are so pressing that it doesn’t matter who was responsible for the past, what matters is who is answerable for the future.

He sliced millions from Attorney General Jerry Brown’s budget, including $1 million to pursue climate change litigation on behalf of the state. Brown, a Democrat, enraged Republicans for challenging city and county land-use plans if they did not adequately address the effects of local growth on global warming.

During the last week of September, three high-profile global meetings will address the challenge of climate change. On Monday, September 24, the United Nations will convene a unique High-Level Session of the General Assembly, at which dozens of heads of states will address this topic. Starting Wednesday, September 26, the Clinton Global Initiative will bring governments, business, NGOs and media together to catalyze concrete action to address climate change. Starting Thursday, September 27, the Bush administration will host representatives of leaders from 15 major economies for an unprecedented meeting on this topic.

To preview these events and assess their significance, Brookings will host a forum on Friday September 21. After the program, panelists will take audience questions.

• Strobe Talbott, President, The Brookings Institution

• Carlos Pascual, Vice President and Director, Foreign Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution

• Yvo de Boer, Executive Director, United Nations, Framework Convention on Climate Change
• David B. Sandalow, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, chair of the Energy & Climate Working Group at the Clinton Global Initiative

Ambassador Room Hilton Embassy Row 2015 Massachusetts Ave, NW

Next week the United Nations General Assembly meets. There are several related international summits, starting Monday the 24th with The Future in Our Hands, the UN High-Level Event on Climate Change, followed Wednesday by the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, with representatives from NRDC and Pew, major corporate leaders, and luminaries such as Ted Turner and Jane Goodall. The next, Thursday, September 27, Bush convenes the Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change, organized by the White House to promote its agenda.

Not surprisingly, this week sees a flurry of policy and science briefings in Washington DC.

Tomorrow, Sens. Lieberman and Carper present a cap-and-trade discussion with the Progressive Policy Institute.

Friday, September 21: Yvo de Boer (UN) and David Sandalow (Brookings/CGI) discuss the upcoming “Climate Week” with the Brookings Institution, Dr. Kerry Emanuel and other top climate scientists talk hurricanes and climate change on the Hill, and Sir Nicholas Stern weighs in on Bali.

In addition the next two weeks sees hearings on renewable electricity standards and wildfire, and briefings on urban development, ecosystems, and global policy.

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