ENABLING FUTURE ENERGY SOLUTIONS

The environmental, economic and social costs of climate change are well known. Their impacts are becoming increasingly evident, especially in those countries that have limited capacity to mitigate against, and adapt to, the key risks associated with climate change.

At Standard Chartered we recognise that as a leading international bank we have an exceptional ability and responsibility to contribute to the long-term sustainability of our planet. By far the biggest impact we have on society and our environment is through our support for the business activities of our clients. Our financing decisions – who and what we finance – enable us to make our strongest contribution to sustainable development. We seek to lead by example and we work with clients who share our commitment to driving sustainable economic growth, and protecting the environment.

At the WFES, Standard Chartered Bank will host the “Standard Chartered Future Theatre” for the third time running, where renewable energy experts from world over will discuss and debate developments and case studies from the renewable energy and clean tech sector. Led by Standard Chartered’s Renewable Energy & Environmental Finance team, well known for their leading role in principal finance, mergers and acquisitions, equity raising, advising, financing renewable and green energy deals, the Future Theatre program offers delegates a unique insight into the latest trends and “hot” sectors like nuclear energy, solar power and carbon capture and storage (“CCS), key global issues like water-energy nexus and financing-related topics like the M&A outlook for the industry.

The Standard Chartered Future Theatre is open to all exhibition and conference delegates free of charge.

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COP15 seems to be facing hurdles.  At the just held APEC summit, leaders agreed that a binding global-warming agreement at the summit was unrealistic. Also, the previously made pledge to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 has been scrapped on grounds of being “very controversial”.  APEC includes the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters, China and the United States, who are disputing how to split responsibility for combating climate change as the Copenhagen summit (COP15) gets closer.

COP15 is where leaders from nearly 200 countries will set a deadline to devise a new treaty as the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. However, it now seems like the much awaited COP15 meeting is merely going to be the “staging post” and not the end point in the search for a global deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The importance of summits like the COP15 and WFES cannot be undermined. They are both in their own way critical instruments in taking the climate change issue to a level that will lead to achievable solutions.

You can follow updates on the COP15 summit blog here and find out more about the WFES 2010 summit programme, here.

2009 has been a critical year in the international effort to address climate change, one that will end with a major UN conference in Copenhagen (December 8-17). The conference’s aim is to reach a global agreement to tackle climate change in light of the fact that the current Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reinforced at the G8 Summit:  “We must seal the deal in Copenhagen for a global agreement which can address climate change issues.” In context of the same,  the G8 Summit declaration reiterates the participating countries willingness to share the goal of achieving at least a 50 per cent reduction of global emissions by 2050. Also, at the recent UN general assembly meeting, China announced its commitment to curb carbon emissions and invest in green energy.

Paying attention to the various talks taking place across the world at the highest levels, the threat posed by climate change cannot be made clearer. The path forward, however, is not so clear. How much are industrialized countries willing to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases? How is the help needed by developing countries, to reduce their emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change, going to be financed?

“There is no plan B. If we do not realise plan A, we go straight to plan F which stands for failure,” said Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjejiva. “The situation is a little desperate, and time is slipping through our fingers,” Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc told AFP in an interview.

 What is plan A? How long do we have to sort things out and stay out of danger? Difficult questions that are being tackled at multiple high-level climate change talks like the recent UN Climate Summit in New York, the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, and the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

 Up until next week in Bangkok is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the second last session before COP15 in Copenhagen in December.  Informally known as the Earth Summit, the UNFCCC treaty is an environmental treaty aimed at stabilizing green house gas in the atmosphere, to a level that will prevent interference with the climate system that is generated by human activities. It is also the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

 Other than green-house-gas emissions, another critical problem is the public and private capital needed to move things forward. The UNFCCC has estimated that by 2020, the cost of alleviating us from and adapting to climate change will escalate to US$200 billion, and be US$100 billion per year. In addition to this, according to the IEA, public finance is crucial for mobilizing the estimated US$1.5 trillion in annual private sector investment needed to boost the clean energy economy.

 How is this going to be made possible? During all these top-level talks between countries, has anything been agreed upon? Does everything rely on COP15? 

One thing is for certain, nothing can be solved with COP15 alone.  Improving the environment and progressing the renewable energy agenda is an ongoing challenge, and is not going to be solved overnight.  We hope that WFES will ensure the dialogue is continued and further solutions found.