The financial community must commit to investing 1 per cent of its capital in the renewable energy sector. And it must do so by 2020. This would mean injecting approximately 700 billion dollars of liquidity into the sector. This is the challenge thrown down to the financial world by Christiana Figueres, vice president of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, and former executive secretary of the Unfccc, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Christiana Figueres's message at the Pri conference in Berlin

During a Pri (United Nations principles for responsible investments) conference held in Berlin from 25 to 27 September, the official – who in recent years played a decisive role in securing the adoption of the Paris Agreement – intervened with a video message in which she launched the "Low-Carbon Challenge".
In concrete terms, Christiana Figueres called on the signatories of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment – launched more than ten years ago – to play their part in the global ecological transition process, which is necessary to ensure that the rise in average global temperature can be kept to a maximum of two degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. Such a commitment would, at the same time, significantly increase the share of operations managed in accordance with ESG principles – that is, those integrating environmental, social and governance issues.

Christiana Figueres Cop 21 — United Nations official Christiana Figueres during Cop 21, held in Paris in 2015 ©Carl Court/Getty Images

Investment by 2020: after that it will be too late

"Dear friends, this is the challenge I put to you," declared the United Nations official, specifying that the 2020 date was not chosen at random. It is, in fact, regarded as the point of no return for the Earth: Figueres herself, in a study published in the journal Nature last June, identified three years as the time remaining for the world to reverse course and avert climate catastrophe.
The 700 billion dollars would also trigger a virtuous domino effect, "leading to the decarbonisation of around one trillion dollars per year between now and 2020. Such action would represent an opportunity for investors to become true guardians of the global economy in the years ahead," concluded Christiana Figueres.

Christiana Figueres challenges finance. “Invest 700 billion dollars in renewables”