In 2015, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11 was held in Paris, France. During the conference, the leader around the world agreed to “pursue efforts to” limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C. The goal requires zero emissions sometime between 2030 and 2050, which means in 2 decades. However, even if the support by the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) agreed during COP21, the process is still not fast enough to meet the goal (UNEP, 2017). If the Arctic and Antarctic sea ice melt, sea level will have overwhelmingly large change.
Though it is a mass crisis, it also offers the biggest opportunities for our age in terms of finance to engage in. It certainly provides chances for the next industrial revolution. There are few opportunities came out strongly through the international development of energy transition.
- The costs of clean energy technology are falling. Those costs are likely to be competitive enough to attract investment.
- Investment from governments in clean energy is increasing dramatically. High profile initiative to strengthen public funding of clean energy.
There are now 22 countries plus the European Union, that have pledged to double public R&D investment in clean energy technologies by 2020/21 to a collective total of around US$30 billion. (Carbon Trust 2016)
3. Breakthrough energy coalition: Apart from the investment from the government, a group of firms and individual investors grouped up during COP 21 to support the development of clean energy. They help to push the great idea to go further. The video below spoken by Bill Gates gives the idea of this coalition.
Now might be a bad time but also the best time. While we still have chances, let’s engage in sustainability to remain the environment safe and beautiful for the future generation.
Reference:
Carbon Trust (2016) What happened at COP22 in Marrakech? Four key themes
UNEP (2017) Emissions Gap Report 2017
Picture 1. from UNEP (2017) Emissions Gap Report 2017
