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Greenwash activists participate in the final day of the four-day Big One climate change protest organized by Extinction Rebellion (XR) in London, England, on April 24, 2023.
Mark Kerrison | In Photography | Getty Images
The head of the United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative believes there are still “real challenges” in increasing the flow of investment into companies that are making the transition to becoming more environmentally friendly.
Eric Usher, who leads the United Nations Partnership with banks, insurers and investors, said there are areas that are more clearly understood to be green investments, such as renewable energy, and that they are “currently becoming more “We are mobilizing capital.”
“Money is starting to move away from things that are really non-green,” Asher said. “But the real challenge is everything in between. Some might call it ’50 shades of green.'” spoke at the “IOT: Empowering the Digital Economy” panel discussion. CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick will host this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Asher said this refers to companies that are still working to make their businesses more sustainable, making it more difficult to classify them as true green investments.
“If you’re going to help address heavy-emitting sectors, you’re going to put more capital into helping reduce them. [emissions]That will increase the emission profile,” he explained.
“So there are a lot of defining things that need to happen before capital really comes in at scale,” Asher added.
UNEP FI was founded in 1992 and its website states that it was the first organization to engage the financial sector on sustainability. Sustainability issues and investments have come firmly into the spotlight as investors poured money into newly launched funds during the coronavirus pandemic.
As severe weather events occur around the world, more and more companies are striving to make their businesses more sustainable. But signs of a so-called “green rush” are growing in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, as the cost of implementing environmental policies faces public resistance, prompting some governments to water down their targets.
At this year’s WEF Summit held earlier this month, the rise of artificial intelligence dominated the discussion. In fact, the WEF report ranks AI-derived misinformation and disinformation at the top of the list of biggest risks to 2024, ahead of climate change.
During a panel discussion on Wednesday, Asher said the discussion around net-zero emissions at Davos was “a little less prominent than in recent years, but what we’re seeing internally is that the work hasn’t stopped.” Admitted.
Asher suggested that while the more complex geopolitical environment has also become more of a focus for investors, sustainability remains a priority as they focus on the future of business.
He said: “This is about doing business, and it’s about how banks, investors, insurance companies or stakeholders do business.” [the] The real economy says, “This is about our future”…and the question is, will you be the one who seizes the future or the one who creates it? ”
Mark Carney, speaking separately to CNBC at Davos, said he believed sustainability “has not slipped off the investors’ agenda.”
Mr Carney, currently the UN special envoy on climate change and finance and a former governor of the Bank of England, said investment in clean energy would increase by 50% to $1.8 trillion in 2023 from $1.2 trillion in 2022. He said it became a dollar.
“There has been a huge surge in investment in clean energy and EVs. [electric vehicles] throughout the supply chain,” he said.
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