Hello! It wouldn't be a climate summit without talking about money, and this year is no different. Big businesses and governments are facing pressure to channel money into curbing climate change. However, high energy prices and geopolitical tensions are taking precedence this year. This in turn has hurt emerging markets' fight against climate change as investments in low-carbon technology required to curb emissions have sunk in the past four years. Speaking of tech, China plans to build a "green technology innovation system" funded via tax incentives and new green tech banks to tackle its pollution problem. This comes as a new Ipsos poll showed a majority of people favored government subsidies as opposed to higher taxes on non-renewable energy sources in order to reduce carbon emissions. In interviews, more than a dozen U.S. and European finance leaders were pessimistic that the climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt starting Nov. 6 can make clear progress. But as governments have been distracted by world events including the war in Ukraine, they fear countries will fail to provide any major new commitments. The countries most exposed to the effects of temperatures that hit records this year are often the poorest and they are likely at next week's talks to demand that any new promises they make to reduce their emissions are conditional on financial help from the rich world. Investments in the low-carbon technology needed to reduce planet-warming emissions in emerging markets sank in the past four years even as financing jumped in developed economies, according to a recent study. These markets account for nearly half of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, but less money is flowing into their low-carbon initiatives since the COVID-19 pandemic strained global supply chains and shrank project pipelines, BloombergNEF analysts said in the study. Emerging economies saw investment slump 9% from a 2018 peak to just under $67 billion in 2021, while richer countries clocked a 53% increase. Incidentally, the Chinese government said it would build a "green technology innovation system" over the 2021-2025 period to tackle air, soil and groundwater pollution, reduce waste and protect ecosystems, noting that current technologies were not mature enough to serve the country's long-term needs. The system will be backed by tax incentives and new "green technology banks", and China will also encourage enterprises and financial institutions to provide more support to innovative green technologies. Meanwhile, a poll from Ipsos shared with Reuters showed that help to buy solar panels and electric vehicles gets the thumbs up, but paying more to use fossil fuels is a far less popular route to reducing carbon emissions in the face of climate change. Ipsos asked 22,258 adults across 34 countries whether they would back nine different suggested policies aimed at limiting the environmental impact of everyday life. The staunchest opposition was reserved for higher taxes on red meat and dairy products - with 40% of respondents disapproving - and higher taxes on non-renewable energy sources for heating and cooking, which met with 42% rejection. |
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A sticker of the Australian Aboriginal Flag along with the word "RESPECT" is pictured on a structure at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, a site of protest since 1972, in Canberra, Australia, May 4, 2022. Picture taken May 4, 2022. REUTERS/Loren Elliott |
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- Australia urged its multi-billion dollar mining industry to support the government's plans for a referendum to give the country's Indigenous people a voice in parliament.
- Some of the world's biggest consumer goods companies, including PepsiCo, Mars and Nestle, are almost certain to miss a target to make plastic packaging more sustainable by 2025, according to a new report.
- British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will attend the COP27 summit in Egypt next week, he said, reversing a much-criticized decision to skip the annual climate gathering to work on pressing economic issues at home.
- Europe has warmed more than twice as much as the rest of the world over the past three decades and experienced the greatest temperature increase of any continent, according to a report by the World Meteorological Organization.
- The Exchange Podcast: COP26 put climate change center stage in 2021, but this year war and energy crises have distracted attention. In this episode, the United Nations' key COP27 players Mahmoud Mohieldin and Nigel Topping tell George Hay why the event could still make a splash.
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| UN Secretary-General António Guterres on the 2022 Adaptation Gap Report: "Starting at the upcoming UN Climate Conference, the adaptation gap must be addressed in four critical ways. "First, by dramatically increasing the quantity and quality of financing for adaptation needs. Last year developed countries agreed to double support for adaptation to $40 billion a year by 2025. At COP27, they must present a credible roadmap with clear milestones on how this will be delivered -- preferably as grants, not loans. "Second, the world urgently needs a new business model for turning adaptation priorities into investable projects. There is a mismatch between what governments propose and what financiers consider as investable. The investment pipeline is blocked; we must unblock it now. "Third, we need far better climate risk data and information. Vulnerable countries and communities need access to localized data and information on climate risks to inform adaptation actions. I challenge governments, academia, data and digital technology institutions and private companies to work together to boost investment to make it happen. "Finally, we must make sure that we deliver on my call for universal early warning systems within five years by providing the financial and technical support needed to implement the action plan that will be presented by the World Meteorological Organization to COP27." |
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Graphic by Gavin Maguire, Reuters global energy transition columnist |
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| Column: The COP27 meetings in Egypt will be the fifth COP in Africa. The continent with the world's fastest-growing population acts as a reminder for policymakers - all countries must be able to come along for the decarbonization ride without being burdened by constraints that may drain government budgets, thwart industry and halt job creation. |
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Multinational bank Standard Chartered has appointed Amit Puri as global head, sustainable finance. He joined the bank in 2004 and most recently led the environmental and social risk management team. He is also a chair of the Equator Principles Association, an ESG risk management framework adopted by financial institutions. Energy Vault Holdings, a Swiss-based energy storage company, appointed E.B. Jensen as senior vice president of project execution and delivery. In this new role, Jensen will be responsible for the project execution and delivery of gravity and battery energy storage projects. Prior to joining Energy Vault, Jensen served as senior vice president at UK-based consultancy Mott MacDonald. He was also vice president and general manager of power and new energy at global energy company Worley from 2015 until 2021. American multinational financial services company Wells Fargo has named Kristy Fercho as head of its diverse segments, representation and inclusion (DSRI) department. Fercho, currently head of Wells Fargo home lending, succeeds Kleber Santos, who became chief executive of Wells Fargo's consumer-lending business in July after joining the company in 2020 as head of DSRI. Before joining Wells Fargo, Fercho was at Flagstar Bank, where she served as president of the mortgage division. Prior to joining Flagstar, she spent 15 years with U.S. government-sponsored enterprise Fannie Mae. Egg, a clean energy brand launched by global investment firm Liberty Global Ventures, has appointed Julie Agnew as its new chief executive officer, with Luke Milner taking up the role of chief finance officer. Prior to joining Liberty Global Energy Ventures, Agnew spent 20 years at Virgin Media, latterly as the executive director of construction & delivery in the United Kingdom. |
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"The International Sustainability Standards Board is changing its description of materiality – not to change its intended meaning, but to avoid confusion. Future guidance will aim to clarify this and avoid companies taking too narrow an approach to identifying material information." Tomokazu Sekiguchi, head of sustainability reporting and assurance at multinational professional services firm KPMG |
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- European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen will host Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency on Nov. 4.
- Four years after Marvel's Black Panther was released, the next installment - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - is premiering across the world on Nov. 11. Check out our Reuters stories on Nov. 4 on whether the blockbuster changed perceptions of Africa or created opportunities for the continent's movie industry.
- The World Meteorological Organization will release its annual report on the state of the global climate in 2022 on the eve of the climate summit in Egypt on Nov. 6.
- World leaders arrive in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt for COP27 on Nov. 6. Around 90 heads of state are expected to attend the climate summit.
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