• About
  • Become a Climate Reporter
  • Send Us Your Report
  • Submit A News
  • Support Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
Monday, September 15, 2025
NEWSLETTER
Africa Climate Reports
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • CLIMATE CHANGE
  • SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
  • FOOD
  • FOREST
  • ENERGY
  • WASH
  • LAND
  • OTHERS
    • FINANCE
    • HEALTH
    • OCEANS
    • TOP STORIES
    • MOST POPULAR
    • COLUMNISTS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • OPINIONS
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEOS
Africa Climate Reports
  • HOME
  • CLIMATE CHANGE
  • SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
  • FOOD
  • FOREST
  • ENERGY
  • WASH
  • LAND
  • OTHERS
    • FINANCE
    • HEALTH
    • OCEANS
    • TOP STORIES
    • MOST POPULAR
    • COLUMNISTS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • OPINIONS
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEOS
No Result
View All Result
Africa Climate Reports
No Result
View All Result

Global finance must face up to climate challenge

by editor
June 5, 2015
in FINANCE
0
Home FINANCE
0
SHARES
1
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Achim Steiner, UNEP’s executive director
Achim Steiner, UNEP’s executive director

Trillions of dollars need to be redirected into building low-carbon economies to avoid serious climate change, the UN warns.

By Kieran Cooke

The world’s financial system must undergo comprehensive change by 2035 if humanity is to make the transition needed to reduce the threat of dangerous climate change, according to a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The report, on an inquiry into aligning the financial system with sustainable development, says finance must be focused on moving investments into low-carbon projects.

RelatedPosts

Un financement à long terme soutient la banque de gènes d’AfricaRice et l’avenir de la diversité rizicole

Long-Term Funding Supports AfricaRice Genebank and the Future of Rice Diversity

It quotes World Bank estimates that investments of more than US$90 trillion will be needed over the next 15 years to enable the switch  to a low-carbon future that would let the world  stay within the internationally-agreed limit of a 2°C rise in global temperatures on pre-industrial levels by mid-century.

Short-term thinking

The risks of climate change are not properly priced in financial systems, says UNEP. Market and policy failures are exacerbated by short-term thinking and misguided incentive structures, such as the enormous subsidies paid to the fossil fuel industry each year.

Rising carbon emissions cause health problems and affect water supplies and food production, which in turn can cause volatility in financial markets and hit economic growth. In Kenya, says UNEP, climate change is already costing up to 2.4% of gross domestic product (GDP).

Radically altering how the global financial system operates will not only help in the battle against climate change, but is also vital  to ensure sustainable development.

Achim Steiner, UNEP’s executive director, says: “Integrating sustainability criteria that include environment and social factors into the rules that govern the financial system can substantially strengthen the resilience of the world’s financial system, which has been a key goal of governments and regulators since the global financial crises of 2008.

“If brought to scale, the approximately US$300 trillion global financial system could help close the widening gap in sustainable development investment.”

Stronger action is needed to drive the demand for green finance through such measures as giving more incentives to clean energy projects and implementing carbon pricing systems.

At present, UNEP says, the world’s emerging economies are leading the way in transforming their financial and capital markets to reflect the realities of climate change.

In China, annual investment in various green industries and associated infrastructure could reach US$320 billion in the next five years.

In Brazil, integrating environmental risk factors into investment considerations is seen as a way to strengthen the financial system.

Companies and institutions in most developed countries have been slow to recognise the impact that climate change will have on their financial systems.

Climate risks

A notable exception, says UNEP, is the Bank of England, which recently announced a review exploring what risks climate change might pose to the country’s financial system.

Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), says the goal is clear: a peaking of global emissions over the next 10 years, followed by a deep de-carbonisation of the global economy.

“In order to achieve this, and support the aspirations for growth and poverty eradication of developing countries, the globe’s financial systems need to better price pollution and invest in real wealth,” she says. “It is happening, but nowhere near the scale required.”

Figueres believes the UN conference on climate, to be held in Paris in December, “can be a trigger that starts directing the trillions of dollars required away from high-carbon, high-risk investments and infrastructure towards the low-carbon, green economy that is everyone’s future”.

Tags: climate changeCOP21 PARISUNEP
ShareTweetSendShare
editor

editor

Related Posts

Long-Term Funding Supports AfricaRice Genebank and the Future of Rice Diversity
CLIMATE CHANGE

Un financement à long terme soutient la banque de gènes d’AfricaRice et l’avenir de la diversité rizicole

September 12, 2025

By Ken KOUTCHAKPO Plus de 35 millions de petits riziculteurs à travers l’Afrique devraient bénéficier de l’accord signé le mois...

Long-Term Funding Supports AfricaRice Genebank and the Future of Rice Diversity
CLIMATE CHANGE

Long-Term Funding Supports AfricaRice Genebank and the Future of Rice Diversity

September 12, 2025

By Ken KOUTCHAKPO Over 35 million smallholder rice farmers across Africa stand to benefit from the agreement signed last month...

Next Post

Lancement de la campagne agricole le 4 juin prochain au Burkina Faso

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recommended

The Malaika potatoes

Potatoes bred at The James Hutton Institute will help to battle a major pest in Kenya, Experts say

1 week ago
Stakeholders unite to boost Seed Access for Resilient Food Systems in West and Central Africa

Stakeholders unite to boost Seed Access for Resilient Food Systems in West and Central Africa

2 weeks ago
TAAT to highlight innovation pathways at African Food Systems Summit 2025

TAAT to highlight innovation pathways at African Food Systems Summit 2025

2 weeks ago
Long-Term Funding Supports AfricaRice Genebank and the Future of Rice Diversity

Un financement à long terme soutient la banque de gènes d’AfricaRice et l’avenir de la diversité rizicole

2 weeks ago
Long-Term Funding Supports AfricaRice Genebank and the Future of Rice Diversity

Long-Term Funding Supports AfricaRice Genebank and the Future of Rice Diversity

2 weeks ago
TAAT, AfricaRice and Partners eye Rice Value Chain Revolution across Africa

TAAT, AfricaRice and Partners eye Rice Value Chain Revolution across Africa

2 weeks ago

Popular News

    Social Media

    ABOUT US

    Africa Climate Reports is Africa’s first and largest bilingual journal dedicated to opening new vistas in the coverage and reportage of climate change and the region’s environment. With a multi-lingual team of talented reporters from across the continent, we tell the African climate story in a refreshingly lucid, communally engaging and technically robust manner.

    SITE LINK

    • About
    • Advertise
    • Careers

    OTHER LINKS

    • About
    • Become a Climate Reporter
    • Send Us Your Report
    • Submit A News
    • Support Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us

    NEWSLETTER

    Be the first to get notified when we have something new to share. Get Africa Climate Reports newsletter directly into your email.
    we promise not to spam you!
    • About
    • Advertise
    • Careers

    © 2024 All Rights Reserved- Africa Climate Report - Designed by Prexy

    No Result
    View All Result
    • HOME
    • CLIMATE CHANGE
    • SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
    • FOOD
    • FOREST
    • ENERGY
    • WASH
    • LAND
    • OTHERS
      • FINANCE
      • HEALTH
      • OCEANS
      • TOP STORIES
      • MOST POPULAR
      • COLUMNISTS
      • INTERVIEWS
      • OPINIONS
      • PHOTOS
      • VIDEOS

    © 2024 All Rights Reserved- Africa Climate Report - Designed by Prexy