Speaking at an Environmental Finance conference in London, the senior partner of Generation Investment Management, a $5 billion responsible asset manager chaired by former US Vice President Al Gore, said that investor initiatives to move towards greater analysis of environmental and social risk, such as the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), and greater disclosure of climate risk by companies, such as the Carbon Disclosure Project, show that there is pressure from investors managing billions of dollars.

But this is not enough, he said, arguing that although investors “are increasingly getting that these issues are relevant, what they’re not really [doing] is insisting that the asset management community takes steps to address the challenges of climate”.

Blood also set out the steps he thinks US President-elect Barack Obama’s administration should undertake, including investing in infrastructure, with an emphasis on ‘green-collar’ jobs; introducing a cap-and-trade programme in the latter part of 2009; and taking a leadership role in the international climate change negotiations in Copenhagen next year, where a successor to Kyoto is likely to be drawn up.

China’s participation in a deal is crucial, he argued, but he warned that “they’re not going to do it unless the US shows leadership."

Blood outlined the wider changes that are needed, in his view, to address climate change and the environmental and social sustainability of the economy: putting a price on carbon; the US moving to source 100% of energy from renewables within 10 years; and stopping deforestation.

“We’re not going to have a global agreement unless we find a way to address the sustainability challenges in the third world,” he added.

Jess McCabe