Australia has announced it will be joining the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment initiative, a United Nations-backed program to foster more accurate pricing of physical climate risks in investment decision-making.

Environment Minister Sussan Ley says the move is part of the Government’s actions to improve Australia’s resilience to natural disasters.

“We are joining global partnerships and taking the lead in building resilient communities,” Ms Ley said. “Climate adaptation is about taking practical actions to help our environment, our communities and our economy deal with the impacts of climate change that are already taking place.

“We are focused on the steps we can take now and in the future to create a more resilient Australia.”

The initiative is a public-private coalition of institutional investors, banks, insurers, rating agencies and governments, representing more than US$11 trillion ($14 trillion) in assets. It was launched in 2019 to develop consistent frameworks to integrate and accurately price physical climate risks in investment decisions.

Carlos Sanchez, Executive Director of the UN initiative, has welcomed the announcement from Australia.

“The Australian Government’s decision to join the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment is a welcome step toward bolstering the necessary frameworks for managing climate risk and accelerating private capital support for climate adaptation measures,” he said.

“We look forward to working together in order to help deploy more efficiently the flow of funds for investment in infrastructure projects, adding an important element towards enabling a transition to a more climate-resilient, low-carbon, sustainable economy.”