Jan. 16, 2012

SNRE Professor Rosina M. Bierbaum was a featured speaker at the 2012 Investor Summit on Climate Risk and Energy Solutions, held last week at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Bierbaum's speech, "An Urgent Challenge: Economic Impacts of Climate Change and Resource Scarcity," linked the issues of climate change, development and economic prosperity. "Climate change has severe economic ramifications, affecting the availability and sustainability of financial capital and natural resource capital," she said. "It could easily exacerbate inequality in the world, as the poorest countries will experience the greatest impacts, yet have the least financial , technical and scientific resources to cope." (Download a .pdf of the Bierbaum Powerpoint presentation)

The Summit attracted more than 500 financial, corporate and investment leaders representing more than $22 trillion in combined assets. Attendees included leading state treasurers, pension fund fiduciaries, asset managers, foundation leaders and corporate and financial executives.

Other featured Summit speakers included Robert Orr, Assistant Secretary General of the U.N.; Tim Wirth, President of the U.N. Foundation; Andrew Steer, Climate Envoy at the World Bank; Chad Holliday, Chairman, Bank of America; Richard Trumka, President AFL-CIO; and Ted Roosevelt, Managing Director, Barclay's Capital.

Bierbaum noted that the United States is not immune to the effects of climate change. "Extreme weather events in the U.S.—fires, floods, heat waves, droughts—topped $75 billion in damages last year, and business and communities suffered from power outages and loss of productivity," shetold the attendees. "Climate change will lead to more extreme events and more disruptions in supply chains that will reverberate around the globe."

The summit brought together investment leaders from around the globe to explore current and emerging investment opportunities in low-carbon energy alternatives, as well as solutions to address issues of resource scarcity in a changing climate.

The Summit, now in its fifth year, was hosted by the United Nations Foundation, the United Nations Office for Partnerships and Ceres. At its conclusion, the organizers released a document titled "2012 Investor Action Plan on Climate Change Risks & Opportunities." Since 2003, the biennial Investor Summit has been the preeminent forum for leading institutional investors in North America, Europe and the rest of the world to discuss the implications of climate change for capital markets and their portfolios.

The U.N. has designated 2012 as the "International Year of Sustainable Energy for All.

(To view the speech, visit http://www.ceres.org/incr/investor-summit. Her presentation begins at the 1:05:00 mark of the video.)