Robeco set sights on Australia’s lack of climate change policy

robeco/climate-change/

4 June 2021
| By Laura Dew |
image
image
expand image

Dutch firm Robeco is seeking to work with institutional organisations in Australia to engage with the Federal Government over its climate change policies.  

Speaking to Money Management, Peter van der Werf, engagement specialist at Robeco, said climate challenge was an “urgent challenge” for Australia given the extreme weather events in recent years. 

The firm recently set up a Climate Bond strategy which allocated to government’s bonds based on their country’s ability to meet the Paris Agreement target and Van der Werf said he had “strong reservations” about Australia. 

Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, had so far refused to set a formal commitment to net zero by 2050 and had held the 2030 target since 2015 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26%.  

“If we look at the Federal Government, we have strong reservations about the progress that Australia is making. We urge Australia to make firm commitments to align with the Paris Agreement. The economy is so dependant on natural resources that it will be a challenge but there is already a transition underway that will negatively affect the Australian economy,” van der Werf said. 

“There will be changes coming to the coal mining industry and, while there will still be a place for it, it needs to be phased out. Australia needs to think about how it can be more resilient and find something to replace its dependence on coal.” 

Van der Werf said the firm had recently started engaging with sovereigns for the first time, having previously only focused on corporate engagement, and said Australia was in the firm’s sights.  

“We preferred corporate engagement until now as sovereign engagement is difficult and challenging as there are so many different decision makers,” he said.  

“We have started with Brazil and Indonesia who we are talking to about deforestation but would like to expand to other countries and Australia would be one of those to talk to about climate change, if we can find the right coalition of organisations to work with.” 

This included both Australian institutions, which he said already had “broad recognition of climate change”, and climate change organisations.  

Countries which he felt were doing better were mostly in Europe where he said countries were setting firm targets and ramping up their use of renewable energy.  

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

So we are now underwriting criminal scams?...

3 months 2 weeks ago

Glad to see the back of you Steve. You made financial more expensive, not more affordable as you claim, and presided ...

3 months 3 weeks ago

Completely agree Peter. The definition of 'significant change is circumstances relevant to the scope of the advice' is s...

5 months 3 weeks ago

A financial advice firm has been penalised $11 million in the Federal Court for providing ‘cookie cutter advice’ to its clients and breaching conflicted remuneration rule...

3 weeks 4 days ago

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed who will succeed Stephen Jones to serve as the Assistant Treasurer and Financial Services Minister. ...

1 week ago

ASIC has permanently banned a former Perth adviser after he made “materially misleading” statements to induce investors. ...

2 weeks 4 days ago

TOP PERFORMING FUNDS

ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
DomaCom DFS Mortgage
93.34 3 y p.a(%)
2
5
Plato Global Alpha A
28.83 3 y p.a(%)