Over 350 global institutional investors (worth around $24 trillion in assets!) have called on governments around the world to put a price on carbon and make a climate deal. They believe that as a result of the lack of support for renewables they are being forced to choose between good financial and economic deals and investing in clean energy.

Six investor groups collaborated and produced a statement that was published on Thursday in New York. The statement and a report will be presented to the UN Climate Summit this week. It calls for an ambitious, global climate deal and for subsidies on fossil fuels to be decreased and stopped.

“Gaps, weaknesses and delays in climate change and clean energy policies will increase the risks to our investments as a result of the physical impacts of climate change, and will increase the likelihood that more radical policy measures will be required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” says the statement. “Stronger political leadership and more ambitious policies are needed in order for us to scale up our investments.”

The fact that investors have joined forces and that they manage so much of the global economy shows that a change is needed. Policy makers need to put support in place that aids the clean energy of tomorrow and not the fossil fuels of the past.

“The perception prevails that we need to choose between economic well-being or climate stability. The truth is that we need both,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme.

“What is needed is an unprecedented re-channelling of investment from today’s economy into the low-carbon economy of tomorrow. Investors are owners of large segments of the global economy as well as custodians of citizens’ savings around the world. Having such a critical mass of them demand a transition to the low-carbon and green economy is exactly the signal Governments need in order to move to ambitious action quickly,” Steiner said.

In addition, the group has also set up a Low Carbon Investment (LCI) Registry in order to show policymakers how investors are already trying to support renewables and putting their money into low-carbon assets.

“The Low Carbon Investment Registry shows how investors are already supporting the transition to a low carbon economy by investing in a variety of different ways – directly into renewable energy projects, into clean energy funds, through green bonds and through the establishment of public-private-partnerships,” said Nathan Fabian, Chief Executive of the Investor Group on Climate Change.

“It gives policymakers a better understanding of how private capital is currently flowing into low-carbon investments.”

While the world is calling for government support for renewables and a price on carbon – Australia has become the first to abolish a carbon pricing scheme and has a government that also wants to take away renewable energy targets and all support. Backwards much Australia?!