LONDON: The second Business & Climate Summit – convened by a network of partners that represent over 6 million businesses worldwide – today called for swifter government action on climate and the ratification of the Paris Agreement without further delay.
UK Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change, Amber Rudd MP addressed the Summit earlier in the morning, reaffirming UK leadership on action against climate change despite vote to leave the European Union. She said: “Climate change has not been downgraded as a threat. It remains one of the most serious long term risks to our economic and national security […] as investors and businesses, you can be confident we remain committed to building a secure, affordable low carbon infrastructure fit for the 21st Century.”
The Business & Climate Summit – the annual gathering of leading global businesses and political leaders dedicated to climate action – met over two days (June 28-29) at London’s Guildhall, in the heart of the world’s leading international financial centre, to address how business can, and should, continue to play a proactive role in reducing emissions and building a climate-resilient economy. Those already leading the way are putting climate action at the heart of their business strategy and reaping the economic benefits of doing so.
Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement will require a major shift in investment away from traditional fossil fuel based energy intensive goods and services towards smarter, cleaner low carbon business models. To ensure that the objective of keeping global temperature increases well below 2°C remains possible and can be done in a way that minimizes economic disruption, this shift will have to happen immediately.
Following his role as Coordinator of the COP21 Business Dialogue, Gérard Mestrallet, Chairman, Paris EUROPLACE, Chairman, ENGIE, returned to this year’s Summit and said: “The first priority, I think, is setting carbon price signals everywhere, at levels that reflect the objectives Parties seek to achieve according to their National policies, or Regional policies, as for example for the EU ETS in Europe.”
The final day of the Summit, under the theme Finance, Innovation and Policy for The Low Carbon Transition,looked at the scale of action needed. It is estimated that US$90 trillion needs to be invested globally in cities, land use and energy infrastructure – doubling current global annual infrastructure investment – between now and 2030 to help secure a low carbon, climate resilient economy.
Governments were urged to translate their ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ into investment grade policy frameworks as soon as possible and to use carbon pricing as most the efficient way of achieving emission reduction targets.
To read the full press release from The Climate Group, please click here.
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