Introduction
The Alliance was initiated by Allianz, Caisse des Dépôts, La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Folksam Group, PensionDanmark and Swiss Re at the beginning of 2019. It was officially launched at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Ambition Summit in September 2019.
Shortly afterward, Alecta, AMF, CalPERS, Nordea Life and Pension, Storebrand, and Zurich Insurance joined as founding members. Today, the Alliance counts 86 members in 18 countries.
The Alliance is supported by WWF and Global Optimism, an initiative led by Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Why the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance?
Asset owners have a unique role in the global economy and financial systems. By the very nature of their business, pension funds, insurance companies, and sovereign wealth funds have long-term investment horizons and liabilities. Asset owner recognise that they are not only acutely vulnerable to the systemic disruptions that climate change will unleash on ecosystems, societies, and economies, but also that they have a key role to play in catalysing decarbonisation of the global economy and investing in climate-resilience. In fact, it’s through their investment mandates that asset owners can drive the development of industry best practice.
In the recent years, there has been an unprecedented surge in investor concern, rhetoric, and action on climate change that has spanned the various spheres of investors’ influence—their portfolios, their own transparency, and the regulatory frameworks established by public policy. This has also led to a burgeoning of investor initiatives focused on climate change. While many of these initiatives are worthwhile and deserve further strengthening, their respective impacts will benefit from greater alignment and coordination through a lasting alliance led by asset owners. The Alliance will seek to work with and enhance a range of other existing initiatives, including: the Science-based Targets Initiative, Climate Action 100+, the Investor Energy & Climate Action Toolkit, and the Investor Agenda.
Contact the Alliance Secretariat
Please submit an enquiry via the form below and a member of the Secretariat will be in touch. For prospective members, please note that all Alliance members must also be members of the PRI.