Today’s Top of the COP: Finance Goes Green and Resilient
3 November 2021
By Nigel Topping
The race is on for private finance towards net-zero emissions by 2050 and new partnerships are set to drive exponential growth in resilience investments.
In brief
Through the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, over $130 trillion of private capital is now committed to transforming the economy for net zero. GFANZ has grown 25-fold since April to 450 firms from 45 countries, according to a progress report it publishes today.
These GFANZ commitments can deliver the estimated $100 trillion of finance needed for net zero over the next three decades. That’s 70% of total investments needed, according to new analysis commissioned by the UN High-Level Climate Action Champions.
A Global Resilience Index will launch today to improve the way insurers, financiers and investors measure the resilience of countries, companies and supply chains. A number of grants and investments are also going towards building resilience in at-risk countries, including $100 million from the Green Climate Fund to support new technologies.
The UN’s Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, responsible for $10 trillion in assets, commits to phase out most thermal coal assets by 2030 for industrialized countries and worldwide by 2040. Thirty-three GFANZ members are now part of the Powering Past Coal Alliance, with 11 new firms joining at COP26.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announces today new requirements for firms in the UK to publish plans for decarbonizing through 2050. The International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation also announces a new International Sustainability Standards Board to develop globally consistent climate and broader sustainability disclosure standards for the financial markets.
