Climate change insights from our Research Institute – Australia

Climate change has become a key issue for investors. We have already made large strides in enhancing engagement with investee companies on their climate risks and carbon footprint, and in building tailored investment solutions that address these areas of concern for investors.

We’re also doing more to help investors understand the macroeconomic and political factors influencing climate policy and market opportunities across the globe. This includes a new investor toolkit developed by our Research Institute.

Investors can use this toolkit to better identify the climate policy risks to which they are exposed, devise investment strategies capturing the opportunities from the transition to a low-carbon economy, and monitor countries’ progress towards their climate goals. We’ve applied this framework to a number of case studies, which assess the progress that different countries are making in this area.

In our latest assessment we turn our attention to Australia – which, as the bushfires have demonstrated, is one of the most exposed developed countries in the world to climate change. When it comes to climate policy, Australia remains caught between its economic past and its economic future.

We look at the insights that suggest, to reorient its economy towards a low-carbon future, Australia requires a paradigm shift in political will and policy thinking.