Global law firm Clyde & Co has today become a signatory of the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment, launched today at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York.
The coalition brings together companies across the infrastructure investment value chain and is the result of a collaboration between the World Economic Forum, the United Kingdom DfID, the Government of Jamaica, Willis Towers Watson and the Global Commission on Adaption.
Nigel Brook, Partner at Clyde & Co, said: "The climate crisis will impact everyone. The world's most vulnerable nations face an existential threat from an increasingly unstable climate, but critical infrastructure in the world's most advanced economies will also increasingly be affected by destructive windstorms and other extreme weather."
"Up to now cross-industry action on climate change has focused on mitigation. But it is critically important to make infrastructure resilient to climate change. This will require a collective effort to drive a systemic shift in finance. Investors, banks, ratings agencies, insurers and engineering firms all have a key role to play – as do governments, international finance institutions and donors.
"We are delighted to be part of the Coalition that is the first of its kind, bringing together different industries to develop practical solutions to advance climate change resilience. It has been set up to address the crucial need to develop new sources of data and analytical tools to better understand the risks posed by climate change.
"This will enable us to better address these risks, mitigating future human and financial disasters. Our 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 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."
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 December 2020, to be held in Glasgow, analytical tools including a physical risk pricing framework and methodology to prioritise national resilient investment needs will be developed alongside a range of instruments to prevent capital flight from the most vulnerable regions, such as technology transfer programs, technical assistance facilities and/or blended finance facilities. Going forward, innovative capital market instruments such the resilience bonds will be structured and the pricing framework will be implemented across resilient infrastructure investment funds. Six country pilot projects will trial these innovations, protecting economies and citizens' lives from growing climate impacts.