World Economic Forum Report: US $ 515 Billion needed in Green Investments
Press release
Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 29 January 2009 − The World Economic Forum today released the Green Investing: Towards a Clean Energy Infrastructure report. The report outlines the scale of the investments needed to develop a clean energy infrastructure and move to towards a low-carbon economy.
New Energy Finance, which collaborated with the World Economic Forum on the report, warns that unless at least US$ 515 billion per annum is invested in clean energy between now and 2030, carbon emissions will reach a level deemed unsustainable by scientists, causing temperatures to rise by two degrees globally.
The report identifies eight emerging, large-scale clean energy sectors that are expected to significantly contribute in the move to a clean energy infrastructure of the future: onshore wind, offshore wind, solar photovoltaic, solar thermal electricity generation, municipal solar waste-to-energy, sugar-based ethanol, cellulosic and next generation biofuels, and geothermal power.
Agreement on the need for ethics-based capitalism was tempered by concerns from panellists that business has sidelined social values up until now. “You can have laws on the books but it’s personal compliance with those laws that is important,” said Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo, USA. Nooyi was building on an idea proposed by Tony Blair, UN Middle East Quartet Representative, who said, “the best free enterprise is stakeholder free enterprise where the wider economy is at the service of wider society.”
Forum Report: US $515 Billion needed in Green Investments (Download PDF)
10 years ago
