01/11/2021
The 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) kicked off on Sunday.
Ahead of the occasion, even Pope Francis and the Terminator (a.k.a. Arnold Schwarzenegger) – stressed the urgency of radical and concrete global action to combat climate change. It feels like one of those ‘make or break’ events – so much is at stake.
But how do financial intermediaries view COP26? We surveyed 400 DFMs, investment advisers (IAs) and paraplanners on the subject. The vast majority are aware of the conference (85%); most of these intermediaries feel its aims and potential outcomes are ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ relevant to their role and their firm. DFMs are more likely than others to believe that COP26 impacts them personally, as well as their respective firms.
Yet intermediaries clearly perceive the significance of COP26 to sit more with fund managers. They expect alignment between the commitments world leaders make over the coming days and the decisions made by the big money managers. This gels nicely with the third overarching goal of the conference: for developed countries to mobilise climate finance.
It feels apt that we launch the third annual wave of our UK Responsible Investing Study as the conference progresses. We will be closely watching what transpires and how global aims and targets trickle down to intermediaries and their clients.
Annalise has spent her working life intensively researching B2B and B2C audiences in the financial sector. A keen qualitative researcher, she has conducted thousands of interviews across advisers, DFMs, fund houses, platforms, pension providers and consumers.
