For the world to shift to a resilient green economy and effectively tackle climate change, an investment of additional two or three percent of world GDP or $2 trillion per year will be required, economists and climate experts say.
“It is a huge amount of money, but not that huge when reckoning the world resources at stake from unfolding climate change risks. It’s, in fact, a process that will yield great returns by reversing economic downturn and halting climate change,” said Sir Nicholas Stern, author of the landmark 2010 Stern review of the economics of climate change, during a panel on financing climate friendly investment at the UN-led global climate talks in Doha last week.
He said that with billions planned in spending by governments on energy, buildings and transport, it is important that these public investments don’t lock the world into an unsustainable high-carbon economy for decades to come.
Rather than saying economic slowdowns around the world make clean investment impossible, countries should make action to tackle climate change an integral part of fiscal packages to stimulate national economies, he said.
Innovative finance critical to scaling up green shift - experts - AlertNet
