In a recent interview with Reuters, Kevin Parker, the Global Head of the Deutsche Asset Management Division of Deutsche Bank, spurned the US for not being able to come up with a climate change policy. Deutsche Asset Management Division has a hefty $700 billion in funds, of which $7 billion are allotted for green investments. Now, the US will not be seeing much if any of those badly needed funds.
Parker describes the US policy makers as, “asleep at the wheel on climate change, asleep at the wheel on job growth, asleep at the wheel on this industrial revolution taking place in the energy industry.” He was very clear about the consequences congress faces by not being able to come up with a climate change bill.
According to Parker, governments in China, Germany, Italy and Spain have made climate change a priority, with national policies and laws that offer investors certainty on the regulatory risks. These are the countries that will see investment funds rise as their governments’ policies provide “transparency, longevity and certainty.”
After the let-down of the Copenhagen summit on climate change, it is not surprising that companies are taking matters into their own hands with regards to trying to curb climate change and spur the renewable energy market. Hopefully other banks will follow suit and maybe then the US policy makers (and other dawdlers) will be forced to seriously address the lack of a policy on climate change. It is unfortunate that the leaders of the US can only be motivated by dollars or the lack thereof.
“You just throw your hands up and say … we’re going to take our money elsewhere.” Let what Mr. Parker said become a motto to nudge governments into taking action against climate change!