« It seems calamitous that at precisely the moment when the need to scale up climate finance is most urgent, the public finance engine room of climate investment could ‘run out of steam’. In this issue, we consider why there are actually many reasons to be optimistic about the future of climate finance, especially in a postCOVID-19 world.
Governments’ capacity to scramble together eye-watering volumes of emergency relief proves that money can be raised when there is the will to do so. The scientific likelihood of a serious, flu-like pandemic has been understood for decades. In 2015, a commission established after the Ebola outbreak by the US National Academy of Medicine estimated that investing USD 4.5 billion globally would minimise the risks of future pandemics. In a case of ‘too little, too late’, the cost of COVID recovery puts that original USD 4.5 billion into context. By June 2020, COVID-19 rescue packages alone had exceeded USD 15 trillion. »
“If COVID-19 has
proven one thing
beyond any doubt
it is that the costs
of inaction do vastly
outweigh the costs
of action. »
