Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Al Gore Urges Sovereign Wealth Funds to Focus on Sustainability

The world's sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) must take a longer-term investment view in order to realize their full potential in building a more sustainable economic system, former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore told a conference on Tuesday.

Facing multiple financial, climatic, and demographic challenges ahead, "long-term investors need to be financially incentivized to consider long-term investment approaches," said Gore, co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management, a partnership focused on a new approach to sustainable investing.

He made the remarks at a two-day conference jointly organized by the University Paris-Dauphine and the Columbia University based in New York.

The conference, "From Savings Glut to Sustainable Growth", aims at reviewing proposals on reducing the risks posed to society by the prolonged financial, climate, and development crises.

Calling both recipient countries and the fund providers to better coordinate, Gore said "there are benefits to this source of long-term capital, particularly as a potential stabilizing force for international financial markets and the environment."

"Green cities and urban sustainability constitute important opportunities for sovereign wealth funds," the former U.S. official and now fund manager said, noting that building and retrofitting cities to be carbon-neutral is an area particularly conducive to cooperation between public authorities and investors.

According to the conference organizer, attending delegates represent over 35 SWFs and other long-term investors with more than 9 trillion U.S. dollars in total assets under management. The conference projected SWF assets to increase to 10-12 trillion U.S. dollars in the next couple of years.

Source: http://english.cri.cn

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