ZERO13’s Post

🌍 Towards COP29: Aligning Sustainable Finance Taxonomies for a Net-Zero Future 🌱 As #COP29 approaches, the need for global alignment in sustainable finance taxonomies is more critical than ever. 🌐 Current inconsistencies create barriers for investors and slow down the transition to a green economy. In a recent article, Alfonso García Mora (#IFC) and Taleh Kazimov (Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan) underscore how #COP29 will be a pivotal moment to drive alignment, unlocking green investments and accelerating climate action. At Global EcoRisk, we support organizations in #ESG reporting to ensure they meet evolving global standards and contribute effectively to a sustainable future. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/d7RHzEiY #SustainableFinance #COP29 #ClimateAction #ESG #GreenInvestments #NetZero #IFC

🌱 "Without the private sector, there is no climate solution." COP29, happening this week, is being called the 'Finance COP' for a reason. The focus - how to fund the fight against climate change. The numbers are huge: $1.1 trillion a year from 2025, rising to $1.8 trillion by 2030, is what’s needed to support developing countries, according to the UN. And private capital will play a key role in making this happen. Earlier this month, we shared our thoughts on COP16 and the nature finance gap—because protecting our planet’s biodiversity is just as critical as cutting emissions. 👉 https://buff.ly/48GXp5T to learn more about why nature finance matters and how we can make a difference. #COP29 #Finance #Sustainability

As November comes to a close we enter a time where businesses shift to focusing on their goals and targets for next year. Understanding the costs and savings of your sustainability strategy is critical to successful implementation and turning your ambition into action! Thanks Sustainable Biz Canada for highlighting this need for planning and action. #GHD #actualisingsustainability

In this op-ed titled, Catalytic Capital Holds the Key to Southeast Asia’s Green Transition, Kitty Bu and Stefanie Fairholme write: "Closing the climate-financing gap is crucial to achieving net-zero emissions and limiting global warming to 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels." "A recent McKinsey report estimates that developing countries must invest roughly $2 trillion annually by 2030 to meet their climate targets. By adopting a radically collaborative investment approach, philanthropic funds, governments, financial institutions, and private investors could foster an equitable and economically viable transition to clean energy – in Southeast Asia and around the world." The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) ESG Mena ESG Mena Arabic Project Syndicate #climatefinancing #netzero #greentransition #justtransition #energytransition

ESG Daily Digest: 1. Persefoni Launches Free Emissions Measurement and Reporting Solution: Persefoni, an ESG reporting tool, now offers a free solution for measuring and reporting emissions. 2. Anthesis Acquires Purpose-focused Consultancy Given: Anthesis, a sustainability advisory firm, expands its services by acquiring Given, a purpose-focused consultancy. 3. Australia Court Finds Vanguard Guilty in Greenwashing Suit: Vanguard, a major investment management company, faces legal consequences for misleading green claims. 4. BlackRock’s Fink on Energy Transition: Despite political challenges, BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink emphasizes that the energy transition remains a significant investment force. 5. MSCI Study Reveals Net Zero Transition Opportunities: Private climate funds show heavier exposure to net-zero transition opportunities compared to public climate funds.

COP29 is crunch time for determining how to finance the zero-emissions future. Official negotiations in Baku, Azerbaijan aim to define a way forward on funding through a new collective quantified goal to climate mitigation, loss and damage. Today’s economic climate is challenging, there’s no denying that securing investment and budget needed for sustainability initiatives is harder than ever. Understanding how much impactful, needle-moving strategies will cost to implement demands a high-level of granularity and a deep analysis of sustainability dynamics, approaches and risks. Answering questions such as the full cost of implementing a sustainability strategy and if the sustainability strategy is integrated into a long-term financial plan are vital. #sustainability #businessstrategy #ESG #investment Guest submission by Greg Carli, global leader in sustainability, resilience and ESG at GHD. https://lnkd.in/dbPtNzaM

Global Carbon Markets at COP29 The ongoing COP29 summit in Baku has brought a breakthrough in the world of carbon trading. On the first day, diplomats reached a long-awaited agreement on the rules governing a UN-administered global carbon market under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement. Here's what you need to know: 1. The New UN-Backed Carbon Market The newly greenlit system allows countries and companies to trade carbon credits on a global scale, aiming to become the gold standard for emissions trading. This system is expected to unlock billions in climate finance for projects that reduce or avoid emissions, particularly in developing nations. 2. A Boost for Climate Finance According to COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev, the new rules could cut the cost of implementing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by $250 billion annually. This is a potential game-changer for scaling up global climate efforts. However, critics argue that this approach may allow wealthier nations to delay taking ambitious action at home. 3. Addressing Long-Standing Challenges The rules agreed upon at COP29 aim to address issues like double-counting of emissions reductions—a key concern in previous carbon market frameworks. Stronger safeguards have also been introduced to protect human rights and ensure the integrity of projects. These updates are crucial as the market moves toward full operational status by 2025. 4. Mixed Reactions and Criticisms While the early agreement is seen as a positive momentum for the summit, it hasn’t come without controversy. Critics, including Carbon Market Watch, have raised concerns about the rushed negotiation process, which they say lacked transparency. There are also unresolved questions on how to handle "reversal risks"—for example, when carbon stored in forests is released back into the atmosphere due to wildfires. 5. Implications for the Voluntary Carbon Market With the voluntary carbon market facing challenges and a decline in value (from $2 billion in 2022 to $723 million in 2023), the integration of these projects into the UN-backed system could offer a lifeline. If projects like mangrove restoration or regenerative agriculture get approved under the new framework, they may gain access to higher-value trading platforms. This could restore confidence and attract more investments. 6. The Road Ahead I’m particularly interested in how these developments will impact the measurement, reporting, and verification of emissions reductions. Ensuring that traded credits represent real and additional carbon savings is key to the success of this market. The next days of negotiations will be critical as countries iron out the details, particularly for Article 6.2, which governs bilateral trades. It’s good to see progress, but there’s still much work needed to ensure these markets drive meaningful climate action. #COP29 #carbonmarkets #voluntarycarbonmarkets #carbon #climatechange

From ESG Investor: Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and UN Climate Change High-Level Champion at COP27, said many are already struggling with the “silent crisis” of unsustainable debt levels. Governments that are already slashing health and education budgets rather than entering restructuring negotiations are not best-placed to realign their finance flows with the Global Biodiversity Framework. For this reason, the WWF’s draft roadmap seeks to provide that technical policy support, but it also expects change among those with the most power to influence, calling for multilateral development banks to “mainstream” nature into their decisions – especially around debt. https://lnkd.in/esQs28rv

National economy green transition: financial risks and recommendation.  Nowadays environmental problems are on the list of the issues, which are considered by the global society as one of the key challenges of the century. The clean environment is our responsibility for the future generations.  The global problem requires a consistent global solution, so various international initiatives have been taken in the last decades, with the main one being the Paris Agreement (2015). This treaty aims to centralize an international-level response to global warming by reducing CO2 emissions, which are believed to be the main reason for global warming.  Under this treaty, many states build their decarbonization strategies with the goal of significantly reducing carbon emissions in the short term and achieving net zero carbon emissions levels in a longer perspective. To do so on the national level the policy of “sticks and carrots” is implemented both in legislative and financial fields.  In terms of the financial field, the “carrots” are subsidies and other forms of financial support from the government to the firms, which meet difficulties on their emissions reduction path. With additional financial pressure on the firms going the opposite direction.     However, it is important to mention that such financial support usually applies to the industries, that are directly affected by national decarbonization policy - “environmentally sensitive industries” (according to NAICS), such as transportation, oil and gas; metals & mining etc. While environmentally non-sensitive industries do not get any financial support from the government within the framework of the green transition policy.  Nevertheless, they suffer due to the indirect costs of such a transition: 1)        During the transition process the firms from environmentally sensitive industries increase their investment in R&D for equipment with lower carbon emissions. This could lead to a reduction of spending on other spheres, for example postponing software updates, which decreases the revenue of IT firms.  2)        During the transition period due to the financial pressure (carbon taxes) the environmentally sensitive industries can reduce their production, which increases the price of it and leads to negative financial consequences for the following industries. For example, the reduction of mining leads to the growth of costs for industrial producers and constructions. All mentioned above cases are examples of negative consequences for environmentally non-sensitive industries caused by indirect costs of energy transition policy. However, in most cases, there is no financial support for these industries.  Yet, considering the future (clean environment) governments should not forget about the present (financial sustainability) and provide a more complex and broad policy of economic green transition, especially in terms of financial support.  

One of the many reasons I love working for The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) is getting the the chance to work side by side with the brilliant, wise, and inspirational Kitty Bu and Stefanie Fairholme. Two incredibly special #femaleleaders who frequently light up my days and today share their plans to #greenthegrid across South East Asia. #letschangeenergy #globalgoals #powerofpartnership #renewableenergy