“We need to leverage the local knowledge of these institutions and invest in solutions like green banks that can take this capital and blend it with international public and private finance.”
Washington, DC– In an opinion piece for the New York Times, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink calls on the international community to be bold in their approach to climate finance and supporting clean energy, specifically supporting green banks to leverage public and private capital.
Endorsing green banks as a proven method to leverage public-private partnerships, Fink says, “I believe it is possible to reinvent the existing multilateral development banks, multilateral agencies and climate funds so that they can channel grants and subsidies from developed countries more effectively. We need to leverage the local knowledge of these institutions and invest in solutions like green banks that can take this capital and blend it with international public and private finance.”
“We thank Mr. Fink for endorsing green banks and recognizing the critical role they play in fueling our transition to clean energy,” said Reed Hundt, CEO and the Coalition for Green Capital. “We know that the Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator, a federal green bank, would spur $10-100 in private capital for every dollar of public investment.”
The article calls on world leaders to reimagine climate finance and how economies can work toward achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
Fink writes, “Based on research by my company, BlackRock, stimulating $1 trillion per year of public and private investment to reduce emissions will require closer to $100 billion in grants or subsidies from countries that can afford it, like members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and China. While the figure seems daunting, especially as the world is recovering from the Covid pandemic, a failure to invest now will lead to greater costs later.”
Fink also warns of the financial costs of inaction or underfunding these initiatives from the onset. He says, “The climate disaster will not respect national borders. Without global action, every nation will bear enormous costs from a warming planet, including damage from more frequent natural disasters and supply-chain failures. Investing $100 billion in public funds annually over the next 20 years would prevent costs of at least 10 times that amount — the likely consequence if we fail to meet the 2050 target for net zero.”
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