Climate Change

Green Bonds Funding a Water-secure Future

Building on the first research done in 2018, the World Bank released the second “Groundswell” report on Monday, giving a warning that unchecked climate change could lead 216 million people to migrate within their own countries by 2050. If internal climate migration is not managed well, it can put pressure on people, communities, and the livelihood systems.

In the latest #TheGreenRenaissance podcast, reflections from PAGE@HLPF 2021 🎧

Find out how governments can turn economic recovery into sustainable economic transformation (... the answer? A mix of finance, private sector incentives, citizen engagement, and partnerships).

Listen and subscribe 👉 bit.ly/3ziY6A6

With Guy Ryder (International Labour Organization), Inger Andersen (UN Environment Programme), Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter (Federal Ministry for the Environment, Germany), H. E. Elizabeth Thompson (Government of Barbados), Dr. Febrio Nathan Kacaribu (Ministry of Finance, Indonesia) and Melati Wijsen (Youth Climate Activist).

Air pollution represents the world’s leading environmental risk to health, costing the globe an estimated $8.1 trillion in 2019 and killing an estimated seven million people every year. In honor of International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies day on September 7, World Bank Global Director for the Environment, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy Global Practice, Karin Kemper, explores what can be done to address this issue.

Rather than regarding the human and economic costs as inevitable, countries would do far better to ensure that their populations and their infrastructure were more resilient. This would involve strengthening infrastructure such as bridges and roads, as well as schools and other buildings that provide shelter and support at times of crisis. Above all, governments should invest in more robust health infrastructure.

Americans’ growing sense of vulnerability is palpable. Craig Fugate, former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Florida’s Emergency Management Division, has never known a summer as packed with crises as this one. The question, he wonders, is whether this calamitous season will mark a turning point in public opinion that finally forces political leaders to act. “If not,” Fugate asked, “what will it take?”

In July the European Commission published ‘Fit for 55’ – the package intended to set the EU on the path to a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction of 55% by 2030 and, ultimately, climate neutrality by 2050. The package contains more than a dozen legislative proposals, both for new and existing laws. However, the package still leaves many fundamental political choices to be addressed in negotiations by the Council and European Parliament. Most flagrant among these choices are free allocation volumes to industry, and whether the carbon border adjustment mechanism will actually come into effect or remain a paper tiger.

Insurer Prudential and lenders Asian Development Bank (ADB), Citi, and HSBC plan to speed up the closing of coal-fired power plants in Asia by buying and closing them within 15 years - much shorter than a plant’s average lifetime of 46 years. Led by the ADB, they plan to present a model at the COP26 to buy out coal plants for early closures, as an attempt to speed up the transition to zero emissions. It will also help turn costs into savings for customers and utilities.

To make it happen, governments are looking to provide public funding to seed new funds or investment vehicles. How to ensure the coal plant buy outs will benefit the public and not the big banks?

With its current pace, Europe will only reach its 2030 target to reduce 55% GHG emissions by 2051. Closer cooperation between member states on energy transition, adopting a regional approach to boost market integration is needed to speed up the process.