Lord Stern to co-chair expert group on scaling up investment and finance

Welcoming the announcement today during the press conference following the May Ministerial on Implementation in Copenhagen, Denmark, of the creation of the Independent High-Level Expert Group on scaling up investment and finance to deliver on climate ambition and development goals, Professor Stern, Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said:

“I am delighted to co-chair this new expert group with Vera Songwe, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, alongside support from the United Nations Climate Change High-Level Champions. Both the UK and the Egyptian governments, as Presidents of COP26 and COP27, recognise the urgent need to increase the scale and speed of zero-carbon and climate-resilient investments. This independent group will help develop and put forward policy options to encourage and enable the investment and finance necessary for delivery of the ambition and targets within the Glasgow Climate Pact, building momentum on further action for the Sharm el-Sheikh agenda and beyond.”

“A significant step up in public and private finance, particularly for emerging market and developing countries, is absolutely crucial to accelerate action and deliver the goals of the Paris Agreement. These investments can help to overcome poverty and raise living standards by generating sustainable, inclusive and resilient economic development and growth. They will help countries to recover fully from the economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as avoid and respond to dangerous climate change that threatens the lives and livelihoods of billions of people around the world.

“We will bring together leading experts on climate policy, finance and investment from the public, private and third sectors, to develop a range of innovative and effective policy options ahead of COP27 for governments, businesses, the international financial institutions and private philanthropy. The group will focus on how to deliver finance quickly and at scale, and in a way that creates the basis for sustained expansion, to inform the discussions around the new post-2025 climate finance goal and the broader climate and development finance agenda.”