Highlights from the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference
A break down of the key initiatives and pledges from COP26, and what they mean for the planet.
There’s a massive global response underway to combat the threat posed by climate change. The shift to a low-carbon economy could create huge investment opportunities. IG Climate Action Portfolios offers the potential for your investments to have a positive impact on the planet while also benefiting from the growth created by this economic transition.
Climate change is posing a huge risk to our planet, and its effects are quickly worsening. Now’s the time to reduce our carbon footprint.
Our suite of globally diversified portfolio solutions offers investors the following benefits:
IG Climate Action Portfolios will aim to balance the greenhouse gases emitted by their underlying investments with the amount they remove from the atmosphere using carbon offsets.
Darkwoods Forest Carbon Project, British Columbia
Rimba Raya Project, Indonesia
Passenger cars driven for one year
Homes energy use for one year
Coal fired power plants for one year
Investors now have the opportunity to not only protect the planet, but also participate in a once-in-a-generation economic shift. Find out how you can be a part of it with IG Climate Action Portfolios.
Learn more about the global coordinated efforts to combat climate change and the once-in-a-generation investment opportunities they bring.
Climate change refers to significant changes in global temperature, precipitation, air currents and other elements that have occurred over several decades. Over the course of millions of years, our world’s climate has been both warmer and colder than it is now. However, today we’re experiencing rapid global warming from human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels that generate greenhouse gas emissions.
These emissions act like a blanket wrapped around the earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures. These rising temperatures have brought a multitude of other changes, such as melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and more intense storms, droughts and fires.
Consensus among the world’s scientists and governments is that climate change is indeed happening and is being caused by humans. In August 2021, a United Nations-led report drafted by hundreds of climate scientists and signed off by the 195 member countries of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, concluded that it is undeniable that carbon-emitting human activity has caused an unprecedented change in climate patterns.
Net zero strikes a balance between the greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere and those being taken out. Using the analogy of running a bath, the amount of water in a bathtub is determined by the input (water from the tap) and the output (water leaving via the drain). To balance the water level, the amount of water going down the drain must be the same as the amount pouring in. Achieving net zero applies the same principle.
The move away from fossil fuels will lead to a transformation across the global economy. This will obviously rely heavily on a switch to renewable energy and gains from energy efficiency and electrification, plus the use of emerging technologies. However, it will also require a transition to reduced emissions from organizations in all sectors. Organizations that lead the way in this transition will benefit by:
The investment opportunities lie in both the new technologies and methods of the future, and in choosing the leaders in the transition to a net zero economy.
This transition to net zero and climate-resilient economies will require additional investment of at least US$60 trillion, from now until 2050.3
Bold climate action could deliver at least US$26 trillion in economic benefits through to 20304, compared with doing nothing. There will be real benefits in terms of new jobs. For example, a green transition, including a shift to renewable energy, the manufacture of electric vehicles and construction of energy-efficient buildings, will create 24 million jobs by 2030, far more than the 6 million that could be lost.4
Not only will new jobs be created, but there will also be economic savings from avoiding devastating climate events, competitiveness and market opportunities, and improved well-being for people worldwide.
Since 1926, IG Wealth Management has been developing innovative ways to responsibly invest our clients’ capital in order to maximize their investment returns. You can find out more about our holistic sustainable investing approach on our SI page. For more information on our Climate Action Portfolios, please speak with an IG advisor.
Sources:
1 Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit: Net zero by 2050
2 Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit: Net zero ambition globally
3 UN Environment Program: Climate change
4 The New Climate Economy: Report summary
The amount of carbon credits to be acquired (and retired) for a IG Climate Action Portfolio is subject to the following maximum cost per annum, measured as a percentage of the net asset value of the applicable IG Climate Action Portfolio: Global Equity & Global Equity Balanced 0.08%, Global Neutral Balanced & Global Fixed Income Balanced 0.07%. If the cost to offset the carbon footprint of a IG Climate Action Portfolio exceeds the maximum cost, it will result in a partial offset of the IG Climate Action Portfolio’s carbon footprint (rather than a complete offset).