How do you transform an entire economy?' The firm taking on the climate funding problem

A growing number of governments, including of every Australian state, Britain and the European Union, have set targets of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Few have mapped how to get there.

Martijn Wilder, a former Baker & McKenzie
 lawyer turned founding partner of
Pollination Capital Partners, whose aims
including redirecting capital that has been
committed but not to climate solutions.

It is a similar story in the corporate sector. Businesses are under increasing pressure from investors and shareholders to back up claims they are committed to the goals of the Paris agreement. Take BHP, one of the world’s 20 big emitters: it has set a mid-century net-zero emissions target but is yet explain how it will reach it, and plans to invest more in oil and gas than climate solutions.

Martijn Wilder, long-time head of Baker & McKenzie’s global climate law and sustainable-finance practice and a founding board member of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, has seen up close the divide between the decision-making that goes into setting targets and establishing rules at United Nations climate talks and that drives spending decisions. Having moved in both diplomatic and investment circles, he found people in each who wanted to tackle the climate crisis but had little comprehension of how the other worked.

Read the story from The Guardian by Adam Morton - “‘How do you transform an entire economy?' The firm taking on the climate funding problem.”

Stopping Global Warming Will Cost $50 Trillion: Morgan Stanley Report

Topline: While estimates vary on the cost of halting global warming and reducing net carbon emissions to zero, a new report from Morgan Stanley analysts finds that to do so by 2050 the world will need to spend $50 trillion in five key areas of zero-carbon technology.

A new report estimates that $50 trillion of
investment is needed in the next three decades.

• Renewables will require $14 trillion of investment, and could deliver around 80% of global power by 2050—up from 37% today. As solar energy becomes more affordable, it will become the fastest-growing renewable technology.

• Electric vehicles will become more important than ever in the bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles; $11 trillion will be needed to build more factories and develop the batteries and infrastructure needed for a widespread switch to electric vehicles—the total number of which could grow to nearly 950 million by 2050.

• Carbon capture and storage, which Morgan Stanley says is the only viable option for reducing emissions from coal-fired plants, is another key area and would need almost $2.5 trillion of investment.

• Hydrogen can help provide clean fuel for power, cars and other industries—it will require almost $20 trillion of cumulative investments to help make the gas, increase capacity to power plants and manage its storage.

• Biofuels, like ethanol, will be key for future global transportation and eventually spread to aircraft and other forms of other travel—requiring $2.7 trillion by 2050.

Read the story from Forbes by Sergei Klebnikov - “Stopping Global Warming Will Cost $50 Trillion: Morgan Stanley Report.”

Climate tool predicts end of winter by 2050

A new climate tool developed by Australian academics has forecast an end to winter as most Australians know it by 2050 and the emergence of a new season dubbed 'New Summer’.

A screenshot of the MyClimate 2050 tool.

Researchers from the Australian National University's School of Art and Design teamed up with colleagues from the ANU Climate Change Institute to develop the visual climate tool for the Australian Conservation Foundation. 

Using the online tool, people can click on thousands of locations across Australia, divided into federal electorates, to see how the local weather in their home town will change by 2050. View the tool here. https://myclimate.acf.org.au/

Read the FarmOnline story - “Climate tool predicts end of winter by 2050.”

Buildings produce 25% of Australia’s emissions. What will it take to make them ‘green’ – and who’ll pay?

In signing the Paris Climate Agreement, the Australian government committed to a global goal of zero net emissions by 2050. Australia’s promised reductions to 2030, on a per person and emissions intensity basis, exceed even the targets set by the United States, Japan, Canada, South Korea and the European Union.

Across our growing cities more and more
 buildings are going up, as are their emissions.

But are we on the right track to achieve our 2030 target of 26-28% below 2005 levels? With one of the highest population growth rates in the developed world, this represents at least a 50% reduction in emissions per person over the next dozen years.

Read the piece from The Conversation - “Buildings produce 25% of Australia’s emissions. What will it take to make them ‘green’ – and who’ll pay?”

Wind and solar will reach 50% of global generation by 2050

Analysts are now predicting that wind and solar power will reach 50 percent of all electricity generation by 2050.

Steep cost reductions coupled with cheap batteries will make the drive towards renewable energy unstoppable.

65 researchers from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) pooled together data on the evolving cost of clean energy technologies across the world.

Their analysis shines a light on the vital role that falling costs in battery storage will have in the future. Lithium-ion batteries have already dropped in price by 80 percent since 2010, and this is anticipated to continue with the attending growth in electric vehicles.

Read the ClimateAction story -  “Wind and solar will reach 50% of global generation by 2050.”