Big Investments For Green Energy
The tide is certainly changing for clean energy investments. Yesterday the UN held its Third Investor’s Summit on Climate Risk, which attracted the likes of over 480 investors who pooled a record-breaking collective of over $20 trillion in investment capital. This high-rolling crew assembled in such numbers not to mitigate the damage of a declining market, but to celebrate the investment potential that clean energy technologies represent. The event was hosted by Ceres, the UN Foundation and the UN Fund for International Partnership. As an initial result of this summit 50 international investors formed the Climate Change Action Plan, which accounts for $1.75 trillion in assets. The action plan is planned to pursue many commitments including:
Support clean technology, with a goal of deploying $10 billion collectively over the next two years.
Aim for a 20 percent reduction in energy used in core real estate investment holdings over a three-year period, and consider green building standards in making investment decisions.
Require and validate that investment managers, investment consultants and advisors report on how they are assessing climate risks in their portfolios, whether from new carbon-reducing regulations, physical impacts or competitive risks.
Encourage Wall Street analysts, rating agencies and investment banks to analyze and report on the potential impacts of foreseeable long-term carbon costs, in the range of $20 to $40 per metric ton of CO2, particularly on carbon-intensive investments such as new coal-fired power plants, oil shale, tar sands and coal-to-liquid projects.
Push the SEC to issue guidance leading to full corporate disclosure of climate risks and opportunities.
Push Congress for a mandatory national policy to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the 60-90 percent reductions below 1990 levels by 2050 that scientists suggest is urgently needed to avoid the worst and most costly impacts from climate change.
These promising commitments were inspired largely by a new report published by the McKinsey Global Institute that was distributed at the summit. It stated that large-scale investments in energy productivity will earn double digit rates of return and bear the potential to curb global energy demand growth by as much as half. These people are not in the business of ethics, but are in the business of business. Its an exciting time though when positive ethics for our future are completely aligned with sound business sense. Solar has historically been the lead runner in investments and will continue to establish itself as a prime means of reducing energy loads and greenhouse gasses. Whether it be residential installations or multi-trillion capital investments this technology is going places, and is making a difference in our world.
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