Climate Bonds can fund the rapid transition to a low-carbon economy
> Download 2013 HSBC Bonds & Climate Change Report A3 version | Or the A4 version <
According to the International Energy Agency and the UN we need to finance $1-2 trillion p.a. of investment in greening our energy systems, building forest protective economies in tropical countries and developing climate resilience in what is going to be a world of heat extremes, more violent storms and storm surges that go with them.
Major policy initiatives, from building the sewers of London and the railways of the US in the 19th century to fighting World Wars 1 & 2 and building the autostrada of Italy and highways of America, have been financed with bonds that provided safe and secure returns for many decades.
Those same models, and the tools Government used to engineer the finance required, can and need to be used to mobilize debt capital for climate change solutions - Climate Bonds.