The French president gathered the world’s biggest investors this week to push them to back climate-friendly projects

By Chloé Farand

Eight of the world’s largest asset managers have pledged to account for climate risk in their investments after a push by French president Emmanuel Macron.

With a combined $15 trillion of assets under management, the global investment companies said they would support the implementation of a Macron-backed initiative to pressure companies to become more climate-friendly.

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Blackrock, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Natixis, Amundi, State Street and Northern Trust committed to form a coalition and work with six sovereign wealth funds to consider the climate-risks of large financial assets following a meeting with Macron on Wednesday, the Elysée confirmed.

The coalition said it would reconvene during the climate action summit organised by UN secretary general António Guterres in September to update Macron on the progress of its initiatives for climate-resilient investments.

The summit will engage a host of different stakeholders, including countries, business leaders, researchers and youth activists to present meaningful initiatives to deepen and quicken the pace of decarbonisation.

The meeting is being prepared through nine workstreams led by different countries with France together with Jamaica leading the track on climate finance. Only the most high-impact initiatives are due to be presented on stage with countries expected to compete for the spotlight.

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“Finance will be green or it won’t be. It will help to finance the ecological transition or it won’t be,” declared France’s finance minister Bruno Le Maire, welcoming the coalition of investors.

The announcement comes after Macron gathered six sovereign wealth funds managing more than $3 trillion of assets at the Elysée Palace last July to come up with a pro-environment investment framework.

The guidelines aim to help the funds put pressure on companies they invest in to meet the same pro-environment standards and encourage other large asset managers to follow suit.

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