In this context, Ban Ki-moon highlighted that financing would be key to the creation and implementation of a post-2015 development agenda regarding climate change, emphasizing that both the public and private sectors would need to cooperate in order to create incentives and regulatory frameworks aimed at fostering and promoting long-term sustainable development.
In particular, during the sessions fully dedicated to climate issues, discussions addressed how to mobilize the trillions of dollars that would be required worldwide to confront the challenge of climate change, including the implementation of carbon pricing and the promotion of the gradual elimination of fossil fuel subsidies in order to release and increase public funding. Strategies were also discussed regarding how investment banks and central banks could promote greater investment in low-carbon development.
During another session, Sweden’s Minister of Finance, Magdalena Andersson, described how her country had implemented a high carbon emissions tax and how, over time, economic growth was observed.
Similarly, as with the representative from Sweden, different participants from various panels converged on the same perspective; namely, they expressed concerns that it is an extremely ambitious plan for 169 countries to comply with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Furthermore, they highlighted that significant sources of financing would be required to implement the plan and that the private sector would need to play a more than essential role in providing such financing. In response, some participants expressed that it would be preferable to initially begin with a smaller number of countries and a reduced number of objectives to be achieved.
We are five months away from the signing of the climate change agreement, and even at the highest institutional, economic, and financial forums, discussions continue regarding the most appropriate plan to implement reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and limit global temperature increases to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
It is concerning that those who are part of this agenda on a daily basis still do not have a clear understanding of how it will be implemented, leaving each Government responsible for determining the system to be adopted in order to protect the environment and contribute to the successful implementation of such agreement.
Meanwhile, we continue to closely monitor the development of this matter, promoting awareness of this phenomenon and encouraging the incorporation of sustainability and environmental standards into the development of every project that impacts a country’s natural habitats.
