Although not as popular, real assets such as timber and real estate are attracting a following. One example is the LCW Trust, which has £190m AUM and was launched in 2010 by asset manager Columbia Threadneedle, developer Stanhope and independendent advisery organisation, Carbon Trust.
“The aim has been to identify suitable buildings and turn them into modern efficient workplaces,” says Don Jordison, managing director, property at Columbia Threadneedle Investments. “We retrofit and apply carbon re-engineering using existing materials such as proper insulation and LED lighting which are more economical and keeps them at market rate.”
The theory is that due to the imbalance between supply and demand, low-carbon properties not only benefit from stronger risk-adjusted returns but also better security and quality of income, greater potential for capital gains, shorter void periods and access to pre-let developments. Emerging markets are also piquing interest although there are reservations these countries are more susceptible to extreme weather events than their developed peers.
Gavin Smith, the Vietnam-based director of Dragon Capital’s Clean Development Fund, sites state-owned energy companies and underdeveloped legal and investment structures as other barriers. However, he does believe “renewable energy solutions are quicker to deploy than building a nuclear power plant in countries where capacity is small”.
The majority of institutional investors are taking a while to fully integrate climate change risk into their portfolios, but unless they act now the future impact will be significant
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