Pension funds have hundreds of trillions of dollars of assets, much needed to drive carbon emissions cuts, but far more is invested in fossil fuels than low-carbon renewables. They also have clout as major investors in oil and coal companies. Shareholders rejected last week resolutions calling for oil firms Statoil and Royal Dutch Shell to cull investments in Canadian tar sand projects, which are more carbon emitting than traditional oil. "Investing long-term in dirty technologies is actually risking their clients' money," said Stern, who pointed to the long-term opportunities of low-carbon growth for example in transport and construction as well as power generation. "I'm not criticizing them in a moral sense, they have to think carefully about where to put the money of their long-term pensioners. They have to be responsible investors," said the author of the 2006 Stern Review which drew mainstream attention to the cost of climate change.

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