Financing the U.S. Transition to a Sustainable Low-Carbon Economy 2021 | Institute of International Finance (IIF) | 21 January 2021 | Webinar

Climate change is a significant risk to our environment, economy, jobs, and financial system. Over the past decade, just the direct cost of climate-related events such as wildfires and floods is estimated at $1.3 trillion per year. Factoring in indirect costs such as lost output and lower asset values, the toll is far higher.

As the world works to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is rapidly growing demand for new financial products to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate climate-related risks. Indeed, the amount of financing that will be required is staggering—the International Energy Agency, for example, estimates that transitioning to a low-carbon economy would require $3.5 trillion of investment per year through 2050 in the energy sector alone —double the current rate.