Top investors ask US not to leave pact

WASHINGTON: The world’s leading investors, having a combined worth of $14 trillion, urged world leaders to stay the course on the Paris climate accord, including the United States whose President Donald Trump could be considering pulling out.

“As long-term institutional investors, we believe that the mitigation of climate change is essential for the safeguarding of our investments,” they said in a letter released on Monday. “We urge all nations to stand by their commitments to the Agreement.”

The letter was released even as many nations attending a UN meeting in the German city of Bonn on implementing the details of the deal urged Trump to remain in the agreement.

The letter, signed by 214 investors from around the world, was addressed to the G-7 members and those of the G-20, which includes India, a leading signatory of the accord.

Trump is leery of global warming, as are many Republicans, and has called it a hoax pulled by the Chinese. As a candidate for the White House in 2016, he had threatened to pull the US out of the Paris accord if elected.

Since his election, Trump has appeared less dogmatic and said he is keeping an “open mind” on the accord. At the same time, he has also been dismantling the regulatory mechanism put in place by his predecessor Barack Obama to enable the United States to fulfil its commitments under the accord.

Celebrating his 100 days in office last month, Trump said he will announce a “big decision” on the Paris Accord in two weeks and had gone on to accuse India, China and Russia of not paying enough towards the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Under President Obama, the US led the efforts to get countries to sign the agreement, pushing China and India, two of the world’s top polluters, to join it at the top of the ticket — President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among the leading lights at the signing in December 2015.