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Wind turbines on the hillside

NEWS

Investing in our planet: Earth Day 2022

When it comes to the climate emergency, money talks. With all eyes on the environment for this Friday’s Earth Day, focused this year on investing in our planet, we’ve done the sums to find out what the trillion dollar climate finance challenge really looks like – and the size of our world’s wallet.

Halting the destruction of nature is no small feat, it requires a holistic outlook and a range of solutions applied together. At the crux, is the need to fully transition to a green economy. An economy whereby the growth in employment and income are driven by investment into such economic activities, infrastructure and assets that allow reduced carbon emissions and pollution, enhanced energy and resource efficiency, and prevention of the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Similar to the industrial and information revolution, we are on the brink of a green economy revolution – and it’s already lucrative, from sustainable finance to green energy.  Yet, once again, it’s a race against time.

How much is needed to prevent a triple planetary crisis?

Although a contentious debate, to successfully tackle the interlinked climate, biodiversity, and land degradation crisis, the United Nations have predicted that a total investment in nature of USD 8.1 trillion is required between now and 2050. When broken down, this means an annual investment of USD 536 billion according to the latest State of Finance for Nature Report

How much do we currently invest?

Currently USD 133 billion is invested annually in the planet which means we are going to need to triple our spending to reach the 2050 target.

What needs to be done to reach the target?

The authors of United Nations State of Finance for Nature report urge governments, businesses, and financial institutions to overcome this investment gap by placing nature at the heart of economic decision-making in the future. We know that regulations and incentives have the power to transform and build the green economy whilst encouraging the transition from planet harming practices. 

Why?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has discovered that, in order to avoid the worst of impacts of climate change, we must reduce carbon emissions to the point where we hold global warming to no more than an additional 1.5 °C.

 

As Louis Glickman said: “The best investment on earth is earth”.