Money, including philanthropic capital, is key to tackling climate crisis, John Kerry, Al Gore tell World Economic Forum

Name: The surprising hurdle slowing China’s switch to green energy
Uploaded: 2023-01-17T11:30:58.000Z
Duration: 8 min 42 s
Description: The surprising hurdle slowing China’s switch to green energy

Governments, businesses and financiers must throw sufficient financial resources behind decarbonisation technologies, Davos conference hears

‘The lesson I’ve learned in the last years … is money, money, money,’ says United States climate envoy John Kerry

2-MIN READ2-MIN

‘We are still subsidising the burning of fossil fuels globally at a rate 42 times larger than the subsidies towards renewables and electric vehicles,’ said Al Gore, former vice-president of the United States. Photo: EPA-EFE

Eric NgandMartin Choi

Published: 7:30pm, 17 Jan 2023Updated: 9:17pm, 17 Jan 2023

The world must provide greater levels of funding to accelerate energy transition projects and the development of decarbonisation technologies, given the urgency of the climate crisis, and philanthropic capital has a key role to play, the World Economic Forum has heard.

“I am convinced we will get to a low-carbon, no-carbon economy, because we have to,” United States climate envoy John Kerry told the forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday. “[However,] I am not convinced we will get there in time to … avoid the worst consequences of the crisis.”

Governments, businesses and financiers must throw sufficient financial resources behind decarbonisation technologies under development in order to accelerate the energy transition and emissions removal needed for the world to reach net zero emissions, he said.

“The lesson I’ve learned in the last years … is money, money, money,” he said during a panel discussion. “One of the keys to this is philanthropy and public money. But there is no way we can win this battle without partnerships [with the private sector].”

To reach net zero emissions by 2050, global annual investment in clean energy needs to more than triple by 2030 to US$4 trillion from the 2020 level, according to the International Energy Agency.

08:42

The surprising hurdle slowing China’s switch to green energy

While many of the world’s largest companies have pledged to achieve net zero carbon emission by 2050 under pressure from stakeholders and peers, most have yet to come up with credible implementation plans and are not on track to get there, he warned.