Word: carbons
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...accepted by all of the nations in attendance may be a diplomatically flimsy thing, but it does hold real promise. Major developed and developing countries agreed that by Jan. 31 they will submit their emissions-reduction plans - plans that will be crucial in pushing the world down a low-carbon path. If there's a secret weapon buried in the accord, it's this: governments will not act alone but will vigorously engage the business world. "We can only meet this challenge," says Stern, "if we can generate sustained, long-term investment in the clean-energy economy...
...Senate begins its real work on climate legislation this year and just as investors begin to climb out of the recession. The feeling at the session was hopeful - investors, especially large-scale institutional funds that need to worry about the long term, are ready to bet on cutting carbon - but impatient. The key, as many of them see it, is a policy that would make carbon more expensive, leveling the playing field so that competing technologies like wind and solar can gain traction...
...good start at Copenhagen, but we're still without a very clear goal, without clear carbon caps, without a price on carbon," says Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres, a national network of major institutional investors and public-interest groups. "The private sector is ready to rock and roll." (See pictures of the effects of global warming...
...better be. The International Energy Agency estimates that more than $10 trillion in investment will be needed over the next 20 years to support a global transition to a lower-carbon economy. We're nowhere near that - Lubber says that $140 billion was invested globally in renewable and low-carbon technologies last year, a number that she estimates will rise to $190 billion this year. "Those are significant numbers, but it's not enough," she says...
What's needed? At the U.N. on Thursday, institutional investors from the U.S., Europe and Australia who represent more than $13 trillion in assets called for Congress and other policymakers to take swift action, principally through a cap-and-trade bill, which would limit the amount of carbon industry can produce and allow manufacturers to buy and swap credits, so that those who come in under the limit can sell polluting permits to those who exceed it. It's speculative capitalism with a bright green tint. For the idea to work, the private-investment community needs TLC from government policy...