COP19 snippets #2: new rpt shows climate finance flows flat @$359bn p.a. vs $1tn needed / IEA says we have to make EE 'cool' / OECD platform to support Green Banks / World Bank: could EM megacities issue green munis to fund green transition?

Climate Policy Initiative has launched a useful Climate Finance Landscape web site.

Key finding: climate investment plateaued at $359 billion in 2012, far short of the need. In contrast, the IEA projects that an additional investment of $5 trillion (above business as usual) is required between now and 2020 for clean energy alone, to limit warming to 2°C. Work to do.

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Some useful facts from a cracker of a presentation by IEA's Philippe Benoit:

  • The global solar PV capacity grew 42% last year and wind energy capacity by 19%.


Great result; but long way to go. A few years ago I was involved in a study for WWF by Climate Risk to model growth rates required by low-carbon industries to avoid catastrophic climate change. Based on past examples, the maximum growth rates we can expect over an extended period are 25-30%; modelling showed we needed every low-carbon sector. See our Taxonomy of the Low-Carbon and Climate Resilient Economy for a sense of what those sectors are.

  • On current plans, by 2017 the world will have built all the fossil fuel infrastructure we can to get the maximum emissions allowable in 2035.


So in three years we have to stop building all new coal and gas infrastructure. That's why we can't retrofit existing coal-fired power stations to extend their life, let alone replace old ones with "more efficient" ones - unless they are made zero-carbon by deploying carbon capture and storage. We're losing this one in China, where 450 coal plants are in planning.

  • We're currently on a path to global warming of 6°C. Of all the energy-related activities we need to undertake to keep temperature increases to a maximum of 2°C, 42% are energy efficiency.


That will mean a lot energy efficiency work; yet efforts to scale up energy efficiency measures are not meeting policy targets anywhere. New thinking is needed. Philippe is of the view that we need to build a social compact around energy savings, in the same was that renewable energy has. He essentially means making energy saving "cool".

Click to see the summary of their Energy Efficiency Market Report 2013 (or pay EUR100 for the whole bedazzle).

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The OECD says there are now 14 dedicated Green Banks around the world. The OECD is launching a coordination 'platform' so they can all learn from each other. Excellent.

In coming years we'd like all development banks join the platform. As World Bank VP Rachel Kyte says, measures to address development and climate change need to be fully integrated. That means development banks need to also be seen as Green Banks, focusing both on sustainable (green) growth and on ensuring adaptation issues are addressed in all development work.

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From the World Bank's cool "Building Low Carbon Cities" initiative:

  • If the world's cities embark on a low-carbon development path, global green house gas emissions could decrease by 30%.
  • Only 20% of the 150 largest cities have even the basic analytics needed for low-carbon planning.
  • Of the 500 largest cities in developing countries, only a small percentage are deemed creditworthy.

If we work on that last point, developing country cities could be issuing climate bonds to fund low-carbon development. Now there's a project for 2014.