Investment

The first of five Regional Finance Forums took place this week in Addis Ababa with the aim of crowding-in capital at the pace and scale required to meet the finance adaptation and mitigation needs for Africa.

Race to Zero member and one of the 50 largest pension funds in Europe, Pension Denmark, outlines the process of decarbonizing its entire value chain.

To mark this year’s World Oceans day, leading ocean advocates explain why ocean solutions are pivotal to a decarbonized, just, prosperous and resilient world.

Deloitte Climate and Sustainability Consultant, Talal Rafi, explains why with increasing support for environmental sustainability, green investments and climate innovation, key sectors can decarbonize and move towards a net zero.

Energy security equals energy independence, and the key to that is greater electrification, digitization and zero-carbon energy, says Annette Clayton, Chief Executive Officer, Schneider Electric North America

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 takes place in Davos, Switzerland on May 23-26.

This week’s spring meetings at the IMF and World Bank must be used as an opportunity for public and private finance leaders to come together and forge new approaches to removing barriers to net zero.

It will take enormous flexibility, interconnectivity, and storage, but it is possible — explains the latest episode of Inside the Energy Transition.

“If we are to realise the full benefits of ending deforestation and transitioning to sustainable production, we need to see more action now” – Nigel Topping, UN High-Level Climate Champion for COP26.

Are we about to see a revolution in renewables? Some say the transition will be slow and inefficient… but some experts think we’re on the cusp of major, tech-enabled disruption.

The adoption of the Versailles Declaration is a signal that this crisis can and must accelerate, rather than derail, the march towards cheaper, more secure, clean energy.

Here’s why investment by G20 economies in nature-based solutions needs to double by mid-century to help prevent an environmental crisis.

Race to Zero is the UN-backed global campaign rallying non-state actors – including companies, cities, regions, financial and educational institutions – to take rigorous and immediate action to halve global emissions by 2030 and deliver a healthier, fairer zero carbon world in time.

At COP26, leading members of the Marrakech Partnership submitted to the UNFCCC a commitment to act now to drive further momentum in the number of credible, transparent, science-aligned, high ambition climate targets.

A new Camda declaration has been announced that represents a collaboration between key organizations and individuals working on both existing data disclosure platforms and emerging technologies that can support climate action analysis, including blockchain, satellite imagery and machine learning.

It’s Nature Day at COP26 and the message is beginning to ring louder that reversing nature loss by 2030 is a requirement for net zero by 2050.

Energy day at COP: A rapid transformation of the global energy system is underway and accelerating.

UN Race to Zero and the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) – a net zero alliance responsible for more than $130 trillion in assets in 40 countries across the financial sector, today publishes its Net Zero Financing Roadmaps.

“Africa’s strength comes from its unity. A continent that is vibrant, fast-growing, energetic and diverse. And, a key player in showing the way to a low carbon future.” Dr. Amar Inamdar, Managing Director of the KawiSafi Ventures Fund, on the vast opportunities that come with investing in Africa.

The race is on for private finance towards net-zero emissions by 2050 and new partnerships are set to drive exponential growth in resilience investments.

More than 30 leading financial institutions, collectively with over US$ 8.7 trillion in assets under management have committed to tackle agricultural commodity-driven deforestation as part of broader efforts to drive the global shift towards sustainable production and nature-based solutions.  

The Africa Green Finance Coalition (AGFC) will help bring African countries together to pool resources, share learning and create a pathway for increased flows of green investment capital to the continent.

COP26 Finance is on November 3. See our COP26 Finance Day Guide events covering the UK Presidency Programme, Climate Action Zone Programme and Green Horizon Summit.

The financial industry is a critical enabler of efforts to decarbonize the global economy. Supported and underpinned by strong policy action, every company, bank, insurer, and investor will need to adjust their business models, develop credible plans for the transition to a net zero-carbon, climate resilient future, and then implement those plans.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is bringing a ferocious, talking dinosaur to the United Nations’ headquarters to shine a spotlight on the hundreds of billions of dollars governments spend every year propping up the fossil fuel industry.

The COP26 Presidency, Mark Carney’s COP26 Private Finance Hub and the High Level Climate Action Champions are calling for private financial institutions to announce new ambitious actions at COP26.

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) – a net zero alliance responsible for more than $90 TN in assets in 40 countries across the financial sector, chaired by UN Special Envoy Mark Carney – today publishes a call for greater and faster climate action from G20 leaders to build a net zero global financial system and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Investing in nature and biodiversity has the potential to bring about both economic and ecological benefits that would greatly outweigh the near-term costs of transition.

“Many little children can no longer play outside as they would have some years back. The warming climate is shifting weather patterns in Zambia creating stronger and more frequent storms. In some months, the heat is unbearable” – Prudence Muchinouta’s letter to leaders.

The rapid growth of solar and wind power in recent years has breathed hope into global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit the most dangerous effects of climate change.

The implications of the latest UNFCCC NDC Synthesis report could not be clearer: the world has not made anything like enough progress to tackle the climate crisis. Without immediate action, we risk losing our race to zero emissions and the better world promised by the Paris Agreement.

Over the past decade, global economic losses from weather events like storms, floods, droughts and wildfires have grown more costly. During the first decade of the 21st century, there were only two years when weather disasters cost more than $200 billion (including 2010).

“I was honoured to chair today’s second meeting of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) CEO Principals Group. The Group discussed the progress being made on GFANZ’s priorities, workstreams and deliverables for COP26 and beyond. We will continue to drive this work forward, to help unlock the systemic change needed to achieve the global transition to net zero.” – Mark Carney

As Europe aims to eliminate the sales of polluting vehicles by 2035, Monica Araya, Special Adviser, High Level Champion for Climate Action, COP26, considers how such an ambitious policy can transform electric transportation across the globe.

2030, nearly 40% of the world’s population will live in vulnerable housing. Disasters are increasing in frequency due to the impacts of climate change, and those living in lower income countries feel the consequences of climate change the greatest. CEO of Build Change, Elizabeth Hausler’s letter to world leaders.

“To the leaders of the developing countries, including my own, I would like to say: be bold! Show to the world your vision of how you want to transform your communities in order to survive AND thrive post-pandemic and amid continuous and exacerbated climate threats” — Vladislav Kaim, UN Secretary General’s Youth Advisor on Climate Change.

The heavy industry and long-distance transport sectors hold the key to avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. Show that we can decarbonize these, and we can decarbonize the whole global economy, argue Faustine Delasalle, Co-Executive Director, Mission Possible Partnership & Anthony Robert Hobley Co-Executive Director, Mission Possible Partnership.

“Climate change isn’t about countries: it’s about people. It’s about the world we want to live in for generations to come and the species we share it with. In other words, it’s far too important to leave just to world leaders – this crisis requires all of us to step up” – Governor of California, Gavin Newsom explains what’s at stake.

Formula One World Champion and winner of 23 Grands Prix, Nico Rosberg on the power of sport, gender equality and the future of e-mobility.

“Africa for years has been experiencing the impacts of climate change and these are becoming more and more catastrophic. It has been our past, it is our present and might become our future if we don’t Act Now.” Ugandan Climate Activist, Evelyn Acham’s submission to the Our World in Your Hands project.

“We are building commitment to a whole economy transition because we know we won’t get to net zero in a niche” – Mark Carney, UK Prime Minister’s Finance Advisor and UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance, speech at the Venice International Climate Conference.

The sooner we begin retrofitting existing buildings and constructing new ones that can withstand climate change, the better, argues Ran Boydell, Visiting Lecturer in Sustainable Development, Heriot-Watt University.

The UN High Level Champions have designed a toolkit to help us all understand what a credible net zero commitment looks like, and which commitments lack the substance needed to deliver a zero carbon world in time.

Shirley Rodrigues, Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy and the Greater London Authority; Catherine McGuinness, Chair of the Policy and Resources Institute at the City of London Corporation; and Georgia Gould, Leader of Camden Council discuss the monumental challenge and opportunity of a net zero London.

“Fighting climate change helps us create a better world. And net zero is the lever to get us there,” Farhana Yamin speaking at a town hall meeting convened by the UN High Level Champions on June 28.

More construction companies must actively play a role in 2021 as the most decisive year in climate action history. 

In picking up from the wreckage wrought by Covid-19, the climate crisis and the devastatingly fast loss of nature and biodiversity, we find ourselves on the cusp of a great regeneration. It’s a regeneration of our health, of our planet, and of our economy. 

To win the Race to Zero, all companies must put sustainability at the heart of their business model and undergo their own green transformation, argues Jakob Askou Bøss, Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy & Stakeholder Relations at Ørsted.

All forms of ecosystem degradation have one thing in common: When people hurt ecosystems, they also hurt economies, biodiversity and the climate.

To mark the day, UK commercial property and investment company, Landsec hosts Race to Zero’s birthday video on its famous Piccadilly Lights.

In the last year, 4,500 non-state actors from across the global economy have committed to halving emissions by 2030, joining the UN-backed Race to Zero campaign. The rapid growth shows that halving emissions by 2030 is the new normal.

The first meeting of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) CEO Principals Group has taken place. The Group discussed GFANZ’s priorities, workstreams and deliverables for COP26 and beyond.

On World Ocean Day 2021, the global wind industry has been joined by a growing coalition of voices calling for governments to urgently raise their offshore wind ambitions.

Our parent’s generation put a man on the moon eight years after JFK’s commitment to do so in May 1961. In this decisive decade, when faced with the threat of a climate emergency, how can we do any less? In corporate boardrooms across the world, the challenge is increasingly being accepted: climate change poses an […]

With roughly half of Europe’s steel assets up for reinvestment this decade there is a unique opportunity to kick-start the transition by switching those production assets to zero-emission technologies.

“As the world around us is changing, both in terms of the green energy revolution and in terms of the climate conditions we will have to operate in, if we do not change, adapt and add our ability to reduce emissions, then we will be left behind technologically, operationally and socially,” Lieutenant-General Richard Nugee CB CVO CBE.

The roadmap shows that net zero has become mainstream, fossil fuels must be phased out urgently and that those businesses that work towards cutting their emissions in line with 1.5C will be in the best position to thrive, argues We Mean Business CEO, María Mendiluce.

Major economies have agreed to end support for coal production and recognize the “critical role the ocean and seas play for biodiversity and in regulating the Earth’s climate”.

The Maldives is creating an innovative floating city that will help mitigate the effects of climate change and stay on top of rising sea levels.

The Net Zero by 2050 Emissions Scenario – a pathway in line with 1.5˚C – will map out a major transformation of the global energy system.

More than $3 billion worth of property in Southeast Florida could be lost to tidal flooding without efforts to reduce the threat. Here’s how Miami is fighting back against climate change.

The latest episode of Outrage + Optimism discusses the complexity of financing the fundamental economic transition to a future net-zero world.

An encouraging array of announcements of new commitments and partnerships – both public and private – and the nearly exponential growth in membership of the critical Race to Zero campaign shows that the transformation of the global economy is truly underway.

How your pension could be your most valuable asset in the fight for climate justice.

With science demanding that in order to stay below 1.5C we must reach “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at the absolute latest, how do we get there? Tom Rivett-Carnac in conversation with Dr. Thomas Hale, Associate Professor in Global Public Policy at Oxford University.

The first episode of Outrage + Optimism’s Race To Zero series, featuring: Rt Hon Alok Sharma MP, President-Designate of COP26, Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UNFCCC, Mary Anne Hitt, National Director of Campaigns for The Sierra Club, and Nigel Topping, High Level Climate Action Champion for COP26.

The health sector makes a massive contribution to the climate crisis and therefore has a vital role in resolving it.

Nigel Topping and Mark Carney discuss the road to COP and their new net zero financial alliance: GFANZ

GFANZ will work to mobilise the trillions of dollars necessary to build a global zero emissions economy and deliver the goals of the Paris Agreement

The private sector is going to be key to the pace and scale of innovation and deployment of capital necessary to tackle the challenges we face, and to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

“The chances of stopping warming at 1.5°C increase the faster the global community cuts greenhouse gas emissions to zero. And how fast we do that depends on the interrelated actions of a huge mix of people – government ministers most importantly, but also business chiefs, investors, banks, religious leaders, activists and citizens,” Richard Black, Imperial College London & Catherine Happer, University of Glasgow.

China’s businesses, investors, cities and provinces have the opportunity to push the transformation that has already started to the pace and scale needed to avert the worst impacts of the climate crisis

Implementing low carbon initiatves in six major cities could bring $12 trillion in net benefits by 2050 and create millions of new jobs by 2030, report finds.

The collective footprint of US institutions and stakeholders adopting net zero targets suggests the US is at a climate policy inflection point.

Rapid growth in net zero emission targets since the Paris Agreement, and the IPCC 1.5°C report, shows that a significant proportion of political and business leaders now accept the case for reaching net zero by 2050. But to deliver the 1.5°C global warming target, plans must be robust, transparent and enacted at once, argues a […]

Nearly 3,000 businesses, cities, regions and investors have joined the race to halve emissions by 2030.

While national targets are important, of equal or greater importance will be the non state actions triggered by China’s 5YP, argues Hu Min, Co-Founder, Innovative Green Development Program.

“The current pandemic is a great opportunity to come back better and have a green recovery that is good for people, for nature and for the climate. And it’s entirely possible” – Tim Christophersen, UNEP

The EU Green Deal is an unprecedented package of legislative measures aimed at making the EU climate neutral by 2050. But as is often the case, how seismic policy changes are implemented across 27 countries in a way that is practical, feasible and achievable, is where the real challenge lies. Nature-based solutions are becoming an […]

London Stock Exchange becomes the first global exchange group to join the Race to Zero.

We need to build our way out of the social and financial crisis provoked by COVID-19, without losing sight of our net-zero targets.

Microsoft’s “first-of-its-kind” initiative with Sol Systems ties the purchasing of renewable energy to environmental justice and equity in under-resourced communities.

Covid-19 and climate emergencies demand huge political leadership, massive investment and clear corporate strategy. But we are beginning to see real evidence of a mutually sustaining loop of pressure between politicians, CEOs and the world of finance.

Innovative alternatives to meat products are springing up and being welcomed by consumers, while helping to cut emissions from the food sector.

In this conversation with climate policy expert Hal Harvey, the two sustainability leaders discuss why humanity has to act globally, at speed and at scale, to meet the staggering challenge of decarbonizing the global economy.

In the wake of recent protests against racism globally, now more than ever, citizens’ concern for social and climate justice is burgeoning.

Ford, Facebook, LafargeHolcim, CP Group, General Mills, PayPal and PVH some of the latest names to set their ambition in line with 1.5°C as Climate Week kicks off in NYC

Ten leading companies sign up to smart energy commitments on Day 2 of Climate Week NYC, including Chinese textiles supplier Changzhou New Wide.

LafargeHolcim has raised the bar for climate ambition in the cement industry, joining the Business Ambition for 1.5°C commitment.

A new form of corporate climate leadership is emerging characterised with ambition, concrete action, compelling advocacy, and accountability

WorldGBC network launches Sustainable Buildings for Everyone, Everywhere — a new strategy to tackle the climate emergency, health and wellbeing, and resource efficiency issues in the built environment.

Brazil’s largest aluminium producer Companhia Brasileira de Aluminio (CBA) has committed to setting a science-based target (SBT).

Cities are clear about the future they want and they are already showing what is possible. In 2020 we can build something different and better. The work has already begun.

By choosing renewable energy, companies can curb their greenhouse gas emissions and help tackle the climate emergency.

Colin Matthews, Chairman of EDF Energy and co-chair of The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group, urges UK organisations to commit to rebuilding the economy and tackling climate change.

There are clear connections between COVID-19 and the climate crisis – we must act now to tackle both systemic threats together.