The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), UN Environment and World Bank Group called on leaders of G20 countries to do more to enable a radical shift of investment into low-carbon, climate-resilient infrastructure as a way to limit the impact of climate change.
Delivering a new report, Financing Climate Futures: Rethinking Infrastructure, to the G20 at its Summit in Buenos Aires, the three International Organisations said governments need to adopt a more transformative agenda on low-carbon, climate-resilient investments if they are to meet the Paris Agreement goal of cutting CO2 emissions to net zero in the second half of the century and build resilience to climate change.
Financing Climate Futures responds to an invitation from the 2017 G20 Hamburg Climate and Energy Action Plan to the three Organisations to document public and private activities for making financial flows consistent with the Paris goals. It follows the 2017 OECD report Investing in Climate, Investing in Growth, an input to the G20 German presidency which laid out the economic case that climate action and growth can go hand in hand provided that strong climate policies are packaged with fiscal and structural reforms. The Financing Climate Futures initiative aims to help countries move beyond an incremental approach to financing low-emission, resilient infrastructure towards the transformational agenda needed for decisive climate action. The initiative is supported by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety of Germany.
“Investing in low-carbon, climate-resilient infrastructure is vital for the future of the planet, and it can also drive economic growth,” said Gabriela Ramos, OECD Chief of Staff and G20 Sherpa. “The infrastructure challenge creates incentives for reforms that can deliver better performance on both counts. We are losing time though – if we want to deliver we need to move much faster and achieve a systemic shift of trillions of dollars in green investment.”
Noting that energy, transport, buildings and water infrastructure contribute over 60% of greenhouse gas emissions, the report lays out six ways to bring public and private financial flows in line with the Paris goals, in particular in infrastructure finance. These include better planning and foresight, integrating climate concerns into all budgetary decisions and leveraging public procurement into low-emission, resilient infrastructure.
The report says that scaling-up public and private investments in low-emission and sustainable infrastructure is critical to increase resilience and avoid further carbon lock-in.
“We cannot ignore the new reality of powerful weather events that threaten jobs, homes, food security and other critical areas of our lives,” said Kristalina Georgieva, Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank. “The infrastructure that is built today must be ready to cope with tomorrow’s changing climate. We need the right incentives and regulations to urgently accelerate funding to these projects.”
However, much more needs to be done, particularly in infrastructure.
Read and download the report Financing Climate Futures: Rethinking Infrastructure
Original source: UN Environment
Published on 29 November 2018
