Global investors managing assets worth $24 trillion (£14.7tn) are urging leaders to come up with an ambitious climate deal to give them certainty to invest in clean energy.

The call come ahead of the United Nations’ Climate Summit next week where world leaders from government, finance, business and civil society will meet to discuss issues in an effort to advance climate action.

More than 340 financial institutions, including BlackRock, Calvert Investments and Standard Bank, have signed a joint letter.

They are calling on governments to put a “stable, reliable and meaningful” price that polluters have to pay for carbon emissions to create incentives for investing in clean technologies as well as phase out subsidies for fossil fuels.

They warned: “Gaps, weaknesses and delays in climate change and clean energy policies will increase the risks to our investments as a result of the physical impacts of climate change and will increase the likelihood that more radical policy measures will be required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Stronger political leadership and more ambitious policies are needed in order for us to scale up our investments.”

Last month the International Energy Agency (IEA) said it expects renewable energy expansion to slow down in the next five years due to policy uncertainty.