Improved climate funding could save $50trln: report

Improved climate funding could save $50trln: report

Achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will require an annual global investment in the energy sector ranging from $5 trillion to $7 trillion, says a Deloitte report released ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), which opens in Dubai on Thursday (November 30).

The world currently invests less than $2 trillion each year into the transition, which is far short of the financing needed to help put the world on course to meet our collective climate goals, said report titled Financing the Green Energy Transition.

New cost-reducing finance instruments can help de-risk green projects in developing economies while making investing in these projects more attractive, helping to fuel a global just energy transition, it said.

The report found that green projects currently suffer from underinvestment and high required return rates because private investors tend to see green technologies as riskier than alternative investments. The report highlights the need for governments, financial institutions, and investors to jointly develop mechanisms to help mitigate risk from green projects by developing blended, low-cost finance solutions to mobilise private investment and help achieve economic growth and climate neutrality -- especially in emerging economies.

It also highlights the benefits of taking action --