An investments organisation has detailed plans for what it claims will be the UK's first specialist climate change fund.

Set to open to speculators in September 2007, the global climate change fund from financial services provider Schroders will focus exclusively on investing in companies involved in cutting carbon emissions and adapting to global warming.

The fund will be co-managed by investments experts Matthew Franklin and Simon Webber.

And the new investments opportunity is testament to the fact that investors simply can't afford to ignore the climate change issue any longer, according to Mr Webber, joint manage of Schroders' global climate change fund.

For the mainstream equity investor, now is the time to adopt a global approach to what will be a major investment theme for the foreseeable future, he said.

Last year saw the publication of Sir Nicholas Sterne's Treasury-backed study into the likely economic impact of climate change.

Among the claims made by the former chief economist of the World Bank, the report warned that global economic output could potentially be slashed by three per cent if temperatures dropped by two to three degrees C.