Asia and the Climate Transition
According to a new report, published by the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC), institutional investors in Asia are defying the perceived global retreat on climate commitments and are progressing their climate action.
As per AIGCC, 240 of the largest investors across Asia (including 202 headquartered there), collectively managing 123 trillion US-Dollar, reported progress on overall climate action and policy advocacy. These investors in the region have stepped up their engagement on financially material climate issues with policy makers, rising 18 percentage points (pp) in a single year, “with Asia Investor Group on Climate Change’s (AIGCC) member investors reporting a threefold increase”. Policymakers would confirm that AIGCC’s policy engagement activities, including submissions to consultations, have helped shape policy objectives.
According to the information, investors active in Asia have improved across 28 climate metrics, compared to the previous year. They are quickly growing their expertise on climate finance, AIGCC said. The progress is particularly evident in three key areas:
- Investors are directly engaging with policymakers on climate-related policies. 25 percent of investors now advocate for clearer, more consistent and investable frameworks (an 18 pp increase from 2024). AIGCC members, report a threefold increase in their policy engagement efforts from 19 to 58 percent over the past two years.
- Investors are increasing their investments in climate solutions or transition finance: now 30 percent of investors (11 pp increase). This metric for asset owners, including pension and sovereign wealth funds, is improving year on year, defying any perception that, globally, climate has taken a backseat on investors’ agenda. For example, a greater proportion of asset owners (35 percent, up 11 pp) now have increased investments in climate solutions, as compared to asset managers (26 percent, up 12 pp).
- Investors continue climate stewardship as they take on active ownership over investee companies, using tools such as engagement and proxy voting (now 26 percent of investors, four pp increase). Investors are also beginning to take on a whole-of-system approach to their stewardship, for example engaging across a sector and addressing barriers in the value chain or at the policy-level that cannot be addressed by single company engagements alone.
These findings come from AIGCC’s seventh annual State of Investor Climate Transition in Asia report, released in May 2026. It can be downloaded at aigcc.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AIGCC-Climate-Transition-Report_May2026.pdf.
(Published in GLOBAL RECYCLING Magazine 2/2026, Page 24)
