Press release dated of 19 March 2012 From a Stewardship Working Party consisting of Aviva Investors, BlackRock, Governance for Owners, Railpen Investments, Ram Trust and USS supported by Tomorrow’s Company  Investors publish recommendations and road map for improving quality of stewardship

Savings and investments form part of the central nervous system of a developed economy. The health of that system influences the behaviour and well-being of citizens and companies alike. The findings of this inquiry represent a vision of a better investment system, developed by those who work in it.

Bonds are a set of financial products ideally suited to both the financing of long-payback period energy projects and to providing institutional investors with security of returns over the longer term. Climate Bonds are intended to unlock ‘patient capital’: taking savings which require secure returns over long periods of time, such as those held by pension funds, and investing them in low-carbon projects that have high up-front costs but good payback rates over the long term. Climate Bonds need not differ greatly from existing government and corporate bonds, save for their central purpose: the funds they attract are underpinned by real and verifiable energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that in some certifiable manner contribute to the mitigation of climate change. At a minimum this has marketing benefits, allowing investors to report to their members on how their secure investments are also making a contribution to addressing climate change. At a maximum, investors...

In 2004 Tomorrow's company published a report on what robust  and responsible financial services would look like after comprehensive research and consultation with hundreds of proffessionals working in the city. Restoring Trust has been validated by the financial crisis of 2008 and is still a useful document to provide clear goals.  In many ways, the challenges facing today's policy makers is to get to the system which Restoring Trust sets out. The inquiry is in essence an industry self portrait.  It is based on interviews and workshops conducted with over 500 people drawn from every aspect of the investment chain.  In formulating our proposals we have taken account of a number of government inquiries, industry reviews, trade body and company initiatives.

The researchers from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy conclude that about US$400 billion should be spent worldwide on ‘green’ policies and investments which also help economic recovery and lay the foundations of sustainable low-carbon growth. The report, ‘An outline of the case for a ‘green’ stimulus’, points out that this sum represents about 20 per cent of the US$2 trillion, or 4 per cent of global gross domestic product, that governments might spend in the next 18 months on fiscal stimulus packages to lessen the economic downturn.