In the five years following the Paris Agreement, there has been a growing recognition of the key role the finance sector has to play in mediating the flow of capital to low carbon solutions, as well as the vital role that policy can perform in creating the right conditions for sustainable investment.
In recent years, we have seen an acceleration of climate impacts, including in Europe, Asia and North America, where extreme weather events such as flooding, heatwaves and drought have underscored the urgency of rapid decarbonisation and investment to create a low emissions economy.
Trillions of dollars must be invested before 2030 in solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adapt to the effects of increasing temperatures and protect biodiversity. This will require concerted action across sectors to develop investable climate solutions. Where these trillions are invested in coming decades will have significant implications for achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.
With these goals in mind, the Climate Investment Coalition was launched in 2019 as an international public-private sector initiative to mobilise capital for climate solutions, starting with an unprecedented US$50 billion commitment made by Danish pension funds.
The Coalition mobilises capital commitments in climate and sustainability investments by 2030, tracks these investments on a yearly basis and shares best practices and strategies. The Coalition is not only securing the commitments, but -- different from previous efforts -- is also focusing on systematically following up through annual tracking of the investments.
To build on its initial launch, in 2021 the Climate Investment Coalition will bring new financial commitments at scale from the Nordic countries and UK to COP26 to support reaching the goals of the Paris Agreement and a net-zero transition.
Today, the Coalition aims to engage governments, asset managers, asset owners and developers to develop investable markets for climate solutions through joint public and private sector partnerships – commitments that create ambition loops that further accelerate progress.
The Coalition will make its next major announcements at the upcoming Climate Investment Summit 2021, the leading climate investment convening, engaging the most ambitious climate finance stakeholders to mobilise financial commitments, share best practice investments and frameworks to increase climate investments globally.
The Climate Investment Coalition will present new announcements on asset owner and asset manager climate commitments that emphasise the recognition by the Coalition’s members to increase their level of ambition in climate investment and drive investment momentum toward a more sustainable economy.
The Coalition will then set its sights on COP26, where it will announce key Nordic and UK climate investment and target financial commitments. By strengthening Coalition members’ own commitments and spurring near-term climate investments and targets, including from European and U.S. investors, the Coalition aims to help drive an international wave of commitments by 2030.
Peter Damgaard Jensen is Co-Chair of the Climate Investment Coalition, board member of the World Climate Foundation and Chairman of AIP, one of the two large energy infrastructure investment companies in Denmark. He was previously chairman of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) and CEO of PKA and has been instrumental in setting up the Climate Investment Fund and the SDG Fund with the Government of Denmark and IFU, Denmark’s development finance institution.
Jens Nielsen is Founder and CEO of World Climate Foundation, Director for Climate Investment Coalition. He has worked in more than 20 countries performing strategy work for some of the largest companies in the world, including as an industry leader in the global utilities sector in PricewaterhouseCoopers in the nineties. He managed more than 1000 people during the global roll-out of the largest PR and communications company Cision, through the early 2000's. He is the founder and CEO of World Climate Foundation that has established itself as the foremost international stakeholder platform for accelerating the green economy across businesses, governments, investors and civil society. Jens Nielsen is also the director for Climate Investment Coalition.
For more information:
Pauline Ledermann, Project Manager, Climate Investment Coalition pauline.ledermann@worldclimatefoundation.org, +45 4083 0497