An influential investor-led climate change group has announced the appointment of several key figures from the asset management industry to its board.
Impax Asset Management’s chief executive, Ian Simm, NN Group’s chief investment officer, Jelle van der Giesse and DWS’s head of responsible investments and head of global client group for Ireland, Scandinavia and UK, Roelfien Kuijpers are among the leaders joining the leadership team of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change.
They will be joining at the organisation’s annual general meeting, together with Karlijn van Lierop, director for responsible investment at MN and Udo Riese, global head of risk and monitoring at Allianz Investment Management SE.
In a statement, Stephanie Pfeifer, chief executive officer of the IIGCC, said: “Investors have a crucial contribution to make in the transition to a more sustainable future. While there is so much to achieve, it’s clear the sector is more determined than ever to play its part.”
Ms Pfeifer said the new board members would be joining the group “at an important time” as it sought to build on market momentum to ensure a net zero future.
IIGCC’s initiative, aligned to the Paris Climate Agreement is defining the approaches needed to enable the sector to align portfolios with a net zero emissions future, the group said. 60 of its members managing some €13 trillion of assets are now actively contributing to this initiative.
Peter Damgaard Jensen, chief executive officer of Danish pension fund PKA, said: “We need to accelerate the pace of change in decarbonising the global economy. This requires action from policy makers, the corporate sector and of course investors themselves.”
