This event will discuss how to unlock and enable private capital to help finance climate adaptation and mitigation projects.
Countries recognised the need for specific climate financing in the Paris Agreement which calls for “making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development”. According to the IPCC, an annual investment of USD 2.4 trillion is needed in the energy system alone until 2035 to limit temperature rise to below 1.5 degree from pre-industrial levels. Another USD 1.8 trillion is needed to establish early warning systems, build climate-resilient infrastructure, improve dryland agriculture crop production, protect global mangrove, and make water resources more resilient.
In the past decade, climate change has gained significance in the financial sector with growing disclosure requirements, the rise of the anti-fossil fuel divestment movement, the growth of the Green Bond market and the emergence of new asset types such as transition bonds. Nevertheless, climate finance continues to fall short of documented needs and to rely heavily on public capital, which represents for climate adaptation over 98% of investments. Now, with public budgets constrained by urgent spending on post COVID-19 recovery, healthcare and social programs, private investment in adaptation is more critical. However, barriers remain. From the high up-front costs of renewable energy projects to the lack of information services and technical support to the uncertain policy framework to the perceived low returns on investment, channelling private finance for climate action is an ongoing challenge.
To discuss potential solutions, we will welcome two experts in the field, Sean Kidney, CEO of Climate Bonds Initiative, and Professor Nick Robins of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
Sean Kidney is the CEO of the Climate Bonds Initiative (CB), an international NGO working to mobilize global capital for climate action. Besides leading the CBI, Sean serves as a member of the EU Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance; and as a member of a variety of government green finance advisory committees, in countries from Kazakhstan to the Congo. He has also been a member of the People’s Bank of China Green Finance Task Force; the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance; the Commonwealth Expert Group on Climate Finance; was co-Chair of the India Green Bonds Council; and has been a consultant on green bonds to the United Nations Secretary General.
Professor Nick Robins leads the sustainable finance research at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. The focus of his work is on how to mobilise finance for climate action in ways that support a just transition, promoting the role of central banks and regulators in achieving sustainable development and investigating how the financial system can support the restoration of nature. Nick is also co-founder of Carbon Tracker and Planet Tracker. From 2014 to 2018, Nick was co-director of UN Environment’s Inquiry into a Sustainable Finance System where he established the Sustainable Insurance Forum. Before joining UNEP, he was Head of the Climate Change Centre of Excellence at HSBC.
This event will be live-streamed to our YouTube channel here:
www.youtube.com/channel/UCOoksFYBCHqZWwVBU9qewZg
We will post the exact link when the event starts at 7pm.
You can find more about our speakers at the following links:
www.climatebonds.net/about/speakers-bureau/sean-kidney
www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/profile/nick-robins
