Climate Solutions, Future Economy

The Climate Opportunity Report

Climate Opportunity Brief – COP23 Edition

November 16, 2017

The inaugural Climate Opportunity Brief is comprised of four key reports and outcomes:

  1. From Macrocritical Risk to Climate Solvency
  2. The Signals Brief – Tracking developments that re-shape the marketplace
  3. Resilience Intel – Climate-Smart Finance Aggregator
  4. Talanoa means non-party stakeholders can drive ambition

Tracking Climate Opportunity Signals Year-round

November 4, 2017

The Signals Brief at ParisProgress.org will now function as a running list of climate-opportunity signals, which presage (and push) more widespread market shifts. Get the latest news on carbon pricing policies, climate finance, climate change impacts, disaster risk reduction measures, disaster relief, and resilience planning, at ParisProgress.org/signals

The first high-level dialogue in the series Accelerating Progress, Advancing Innovation identified key areas of action and emerging pools of demand that make action to counter the “inconvenient truth” of global climate disruption “a convenient opportunity”. Outlined in a detailed 4-page brief, the Climate Opportunity connects to many of the planning, building, transportation, and macroeconomic particulars we live with and leverage day to day.

Evaluation of the economic and investment opportunities inherent in climate action has taken many forms, including examination of the costs of inaction (Risky Business), examination of the costs and benefits of embracing the New Climate Economy, assessment of the braking effect of carbon assets on investments (Carbon Delta), and the prospect of trillions of dollars in entrepreneurial climate wealth.

 This report does not attempt to replace or supersede them, but to provide instead an ongoing collaborative platform for providing context and actionable priorities in relation to those findings. Drawing from and feeding into the ACCESS to GOOD platform, the work of partners like Carbon Delta, deliberations of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, and integrating the views, needs, capacities, and innovations of the Citizens’ Climate Engagement Network, across the world, the Climate Opportunity Report will provide a lens through which to gauge progress on delivering these known opportunities to communities, markets, and nations.

Green Bonds Issuance for 2017 near $75 billion

September 14, 2017

The Climate Bonds Initiative tracks a number of different categories of bonds that qualify as climate-smart or green. Among bonds that are labeled “green bonds” Climate Bonds finds those in three categories add up to $74.6 billion issued in 2017.

The total of green bonds issued in these three categories between 2016 and 2017 now adds up to $155.6 billion, with statistical projection of another $75 billion by the end of 2017. The acceleration of green bonds issuances is integral to scaling up low-carbon investment opportunities and to building fiscal resilience, by reducing risk and ensuring longer-term investment priorities.

JP Morgan Chase commits $200 billion to clean finance

August 1, 2017

JPMorgan Chase—one of the world’s largest banks—will rely solely on renewable energy by 2020, according to an announcement made on Friday.

From CNBC:

To meet its goal, the firm will install on-site renewable energy generators, sign power purchase agreements with renewable energy projects and reduce its energy consumption. The firm has property in more than 60 countries that totals approximately 75 million square feet, according to a press release. The firm also plans to facilitate $200 billion in clean financing through 2025.

The catalyzing of economy-wide climate-smart finance is the major breakthrough which will alter the political timetables for accelerated implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Paris Agreement will Add $19 Trillion to Global GDP

March 21, 2017

According to a new report from IRENA, full implementation of the Paris Agreement will add as much as $19 trillion to gross world product—the total exchange value of the world economy—by 2050.

Massive Global Opportunity in New & More Efficient Infrastructure

October 25, 2016

The 2016 New Climate Economy report, the Sustainable Infrastructure Imperative, finds that:

Investing in sustainable infrastructure is key to tackling three simultaneous challenges: reigniting global growth, delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and reducing climate risk. The challenge is urgent: the investment choices we make even over the next 2-3 years will start to lock in for decades to come either a climate-smart, inclusive growth pathway, or a high-carbon, inefficient and unsustainable pathway.

That’s $90 trillion that will either be devoted to laying the foundation for sustainable inclusive low-carbon prosperity or to adding unnecessary legacy cost to future economic activity. [Full Report]