Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Hedge Funds; Venture Capitalists; Public Employee Pensions Push for Lieberman-Warner

From the press release:

More than 50 leading investors, including the nation’s largest public pension fund and the world’s largest listed hedge fund, today called on the U.S. Senate to enact strong federal legislation to curb the pollution causing global warming. In advance of the upcoming Senate debate on the Lieberman-Warner climate bill early next month, the group issued a letter today to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, calling for a national climate policy to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60 to 90 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. The request is similar to reductions that would be achieved under the Lieberman-Warner bill.

The group of investors, organized by Ceres and the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), announced the investor letter at a climate change conference today at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington. The 52 signers include institutional investors, asset managers, treasurers and controllers such as the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), Deutsche Asset Management, F&C Asset Management, the Man Group (the world’s largest hedge fund), and treasurers and controllers for California, Connecticut, Maryland, New York City, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. (See full list below.)...

...“Investors hate uncertainty, and that’s the problem they face today,” said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres and director of INCR, in remarks being made today at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Strong and decisive action from Washington will open the floodgates on large-scale clean technology investments, enabling U.S. investors and businesses to lead instead of lag on climate change solutions.”...

The cleanest way to avoid uncertainty is a carbon tax with the proceeds rebated per capita. That way there is no uncertainty as to what the price will be. To answer the question re: uncertainty of emissions reductions, ratchet the tax each year by a fixed percentage. More certainty.

The same effect can be garnered by a cap-auction-rebate plan with say a $5.00 trading range.
More certainty.

Some of the signers that we've posted on:

Generation Investment Management
Vinod Khosla, Founder, Khosla Ventures
L. John Doerr, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers