Bloomberg Green at COP29
Against the backdrop of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Bloomberg convened the foremost leaders in business, finance, policy, academia and NGOs on November 13 in Baku, Azerbaijan to discuss the solutions to support decisions and goals set at COP29. Read the highlights from our program here.
UK Department for Energy Security & Net Zero's Special Representative for Climate Rachel Kyte shared the future of international climate diplomacy amid geopolitical tensions in conversation with Bloomberg’s William Kennedy .
"Everybody who's here knows that if we don't get a strong and ambitious agreement on the quantifiable goal, it makes the task of next year really difficult," she explained.
Next year, countries will share their plans that rely on an agreement for a stable foundation.
On the need to fund climate activations and its greater impact across all pillars of a country, "This is not a story of development and aid. This is a story of supporting countries' own trade, investment and prosperity plans."
Watch the conversation here.
The private sector must mobilize capital in support of climate action in order to meet ambitious global goals. Standard Chartered ’s Chief Sustainability Officer Marisa Drew , J.P. Morgan ’s Managing Director for Carbon Transition André Abadie and Bank of America ’s Global Head of Sustainable Finance Karen Fang joined Bloomberg Green ’s Natasha White to discuss the opportunities and challenges in unlocking private sector investment.
Leveraging blended finance to respond to market gaps and address affordability in emerging markets provides huge growth opportunities, according to Drew. She cited India’s proliferation of solar by virtue of Prime Minister Modi’s policy changes and desire to diversify the country’s energy mix as an example for hope.
“When we see what’s going on in middle-income, high-growth economies – the scaling is absolutely there.”
In terms of blended finance and the avenues to get money where it is needed, Abadie shared, “Insurance is going to play a key role, export credit agencies are going to have a role to play in this as well.” The reliance on successful economies and momentum will carry countries through the green transition.
Fang discussed their responsibility in aiding supply chain transitions and building up value chains in saying,
“From the investment sector and financial services sector, our job is really to connect the dots, and make sure money and capital goes where it needs to.”
Watch the discussion here.
Throughout COP29, Bloomberg’s reporters are covering the outcomes shaping the future of climate action. John Ainger , Jennifer Dlouhy , Akshat Rathi and Natasha White joined Aaron Rutkoff to share the developments they’ve heard and highlight what topics will dominate next week’s discussions.
The main issue debated at COP29 lies in funding to advance developing countries’ climate action, with the nations calling for trillions of dollars, hundreds of billions of which would come from developing countries in the public sector.
Dubbed the “finance COP,” the main debates in Baku center around the nuances of a new collective quantified goal (NCQG) on climate finance – how much money is needed, who should contribute, how the funds should be used. Ainger shared an anecdote about this being the most difficult COP since Paris because it's about money and no one likes talking about money, especially rich countries.
Conversations around Article 6, now Article 6.4, of the Paris Agreement found early success as countries agreed on rules for a carbon market where they could potentially exchange emissions credits earned through planting trees and other technological advancements to then sell and gain climate finance. Yet, these discussions are ongoing and face difficulty with bilateral trade agreements.
On the topic of President-elect Donald Trump’s interest in pulling out of the Paris Agreement, Dlouhy said,
"The US obviously has been an unreliable ally in this space for long before Trump's first election."
Conversations during COP are less involved in the US’ withdrawal and more looking towards China as a potential major powerhouse for leading the green transition.
Other developments included ExxonMobil’s CEO Darren Woods sharing his support of the Paris Agreement and the likelihood of their business shifting globally if the US backs out.
Watch the conversation here.
Will the world reach net zero emissions by 2050? BloombergNEF ’s CEO Jon Moore laid out the pertinent decisions in this energy transition. Solar and wind energy is set to continue growing through 2030 while EV sales are increasing at a slower rate. However, there are still many hindrances. One of which being the price of carbon being too low to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and another comes from the friction of global tariffs preventing quicker innovation and adoption.
In discussing the pathway to net zero of global energy-related emissions, Moore explained the steep challenge saying,
“If we want to achieve net zero, we need to reduce emissions by 37% in the next five years.”
Watch the presentation here.
Andrew Steer , President & CEO of Bezos Earth Fund , sat down with Bloomberg Green’s Aaron Rutkoff to talk about his plans for the $10 billion fund. Steer began explaining the flexibility philanthropies have in not needing to juggle private and governmental red tape. The fund is aimed at climate actions but also nature, and Steer noted the decisions are “always through the lens of people.”
Steer shared the question they ask themselves when determining where to allocate their funds for the greatest impact, “Where can we inject resources quickly, boldly, in a way that will remove barriers from reaching positive tipping points?” The fund’s goal is to recycle the money while beginning small and scaling up if it becomes a success.
Watch the panel here.
Bloomberg Green’s podcast Zero hosted by Akshat Rathi held a live taping featuring US White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi highlighting the changes towards reaching zero emissions amid a second Trump presidency.
On President Biden’s 2021 PREPARE initiative launched at COP26 to mobilize adaptation finance into the developing world with a target of $3 billion, Zaidi announced the US met that goal a year early and will meet it again next year.
They discussed the potential for Trump to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement, with Zaidi sharing that it will be detrimental to US businesses and workers. Yet, this possibility does not hinder the Agreement’s ambitious 2035 goal because, in Zaidi’s words, “The bigger that coalition is and the bolder that ambition is, the more likely we are to pull through on the other side and deliver the resources that are necessary to lift up the entire world in adapting to these challenges.”
Rathi and Zaidi discussed the future of climate action amid a shift in presidential focus with Zaidi stating,
“We are in the decisive decade for climate action. Climate action is not on pause over the next 4 years. It’s on all of us to figure out how we accelerate progress at home and abroad.”
Watch the conversation here.
How will developing countries in need of capital keep up with decarbonization needs and sustainability shifts? Avinash Persaud , Special Advisor on Climate Change to the President of the Inter-American Development Bank , and Liquid Sustainability Facility’s Chair & Founder Vera Songwe joined Bloomberg’s John Ainger to evaluate the financial mechanisms available to accelerate these nations’ emissions reduction.
While describing the issue of a high cost capital and trying to create a channel between where capital is abundant and cheap to where it is expensive and scarce is, Persaud stated, “the biggest obstacle is foreign exchange risk.” He explains their commitment to lending dollars and their recent launch in Brazil with $5 billion.
Songwe described the long road of climate action by saying, “This is a marathon.” Many financial sectors only aid in funding the green within developing countries, but Songwe countered explaining,
“You must fund the transition. Because countries need to go from the brown to the green in a nondisruptive fashion.”
In order to transition as efficiently as possible, there still needs to be involvement with the brown so nations are able to succeed with green.
Persaud talked about the potential for tax dollars to fund specific climate-related impacts like loss and damages, saying, “Let’s limit what we’re gonna use taxes for. Let’s fund things that can’t be funded any other way.” Persaud used the US Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund as an example of taxation that, if spread globally across coal and gas, could raise enough money to cover all loss and damage.
Both Persaud and Songwe look toward China as the global champion of solar, wind and hydrogen sustainability and believe other countries have to follow their transition.
Watch the discussion here.
For more coverage from Baku head to Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg coverage of the COP29 climate summit is free to read.
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