Climate change investment an opportunity, says expert
Climate change investment an opportunity, says expert
MAY 19, 2014 BY 0 COMMENTS
Adrian Rimmer, Gold Standard (photo: Paula Dupraz-Dobias)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Investment in climate change projects provides huge business opportunities and benefits, the head of a Geneva-based certification organization told journalists Thursday 15 May.
Adrian Rimmer, CEO of the Gold Standard, said that projects certified by the Geneva organization generate vast benefits in areas including employment, biodiversity and health, according to a study by Australian group Net Balance.
The report, which studied some 109 projects, states that “robustly designed and audited green-house gas mitigation projects … deliver far more than carbon emission reductions.” The publication comes weeks after the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change said that policies to offset or adapt to changes will have a negligible impact on growth, representing only 0.06 percent on growth annually throughout the next century.
Rimmer told GenevaLunch “Investment is not only required but sensible.” The report is of interest in preparation for climate change talks next year in Paris, he says, for “how we can contribute (to these talks), and encourage strong global commitment towards addressing climate change”. The COP21 conference in Paris is expected to agree on a new binding climate change agreement.
The Gold Standard report gives examples of investment in wind farms, water filtration and the distribution of clean stoves. Christian Som of WWF Switzerland, who was also at the Swiss Press Club conference, described a single clean stove project in the Mamiza Nature Reserve in China to reduce deforestation and carbon emissions generated by firewood.
Som says the economic value gained from the project, which is supported by supermarket chain Coop, amounts to $1,434,000 once the initial investment is discounted.
The International Energy Agency has stated that $44 trillion worth of investments would be needed up to 2050 to decarbonize the energy sector.
“Tools needed to drive growth sustainably are vitally important,” Rimmer says. “It is not acceptable to say that growth cannot happen.”
