The Government of the United Kingdom, the Government of Jamaica, Willis Towers Watson, the Global Commission on Adaptation and the World Economic Forum announced the launch of a private sector-led Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment.
The Coalition is the first of its kind, as a financial-sector led initiative, that brings together over 30 organizations across the investment value chain to address climate resilience challenges. Chaired by the CEO of Willis Towers Watson John Haley, the coalition aims to transform infrastructure investment by integrating climate risks into decision-making, driving a shift toward a more climate-resilient economy for all countries, including the most vulnerable.
There is a crucial need to develop new sources of data and analytical tools to better understand the risks posed by climate change to our societies and economies. This will enable us to better address these risks, preventing future human and financial disasters. Infrastructure enables the flow of goods, services, and people which allow societies to thrive. Properly pricing climate risk in financial decision-making will align investment flows towards infrastructure capable of withstanding a changing climate. Providing a methodology to quantify the economic and financial benefits will provide a substantial and critical incentive for financial markets to embed resilience upfront.
The Coalition will develop a common approach to assessing climate risks, which will enable them to ensure all their investments are resilient, and will unlock additional private finance for resilient infrastructure investment.
The Coalition was officially launched at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York on the 23rd of September 2019 in a panel entitled Towards a Resilient Future.
Supporters of this coalition include:
- Business: Aberdeen Standard Investments, Acclimatise, Arup, Clyde and Co, DWS, Environment Agency Pension Fund, GARI, GRESB, IGCC, IIGCC, Impax, Jupiter Intelligence, KPMG, Legal and General, Lightsmith Group, Lloyds Banking Group, McKinsey, Meridiam, One Concern, Schroders, Standard Chartered, Willis Towers Watson, Zurich Insurance Group.
- International institutions: Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, FAO, Global Commission on Adaptation, Global Infrastructure Facility, Global Water Partnership, Green Climate Fund, Green Finance Institute, TCFD Secretariat.
- Governments of the United Kingdom, Jamaica, the Solomon Islands, and Belize.
Through to the end of 2019, the Coalition will develop case studies to build the business case and identify the critical enabling environments for climate-resilient infrastructure investment. By COP26 in 2020 analytical tools including a physical risk pricing framework and methodology to prioritize national resilient investment needs, will be developed, alongside a range of instruments to prevent capital flight from the most vulnerable regions, such as a technology transfer programs, technical assistance facilities and/or blended finance facilities. Going forward, innovative capital market instruments such as Resilience Bonds will be structured, and the pricing framework will be implemented across resilient infrastructure investment funds. 6 country pilot projects will trial these innovations, protecting economies and citizens` lives from growing climate impacts.
This Coalition is the result of a collaboration between the World Economic Forum, the Government of the United-Kingdom, the Government of Jamaica, Willis Towers Watson and the Global Commission on Adaptation. It is part of the package for the United Nation Climate Action Summit`s Adaptation and Resilience track, led by the UK and Egypt.
