INDUSTRY WATCH
Green investment must be ramped up for UN sustainability goals to be met
Greater investment in infrastructure is required if the world is to hit key climate targets by 2030 , a sustainable assets expert has warned .
Paul Sutcliffe , Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of sustainability assets company , Evora Global , said infrastructure investment must be in line with the United Nations ’ sustainable development goals .
“ The Paris Agreement , an international treaty on climate change , was adopted in 2015 ,” said Sutcliffe . “ As of February 2023 , 195 countries of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) had signed up .
“ The Agreement ’ s goal is to keep the rise in mean global temperature to well below 2 ° C above preindustrial levels and preferably limit the increase to 1.5 ° C . To hit this ambitious 1.5 ° C goal , emissions need to be cut by 50 % by 2030 – we ’ ve only got six years left .
“ Infrastructure has a major role to play . It literally provides the foundation to our society , economies and built environment . So it has a direct contribution towards the achievement of climate goals .
Paul Sutcliffe , Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer , Evora
“ Many of the major economies have ageing infrastructure , so this is an opportunity to build with the future in mind . We need to upgrade our power generation , our transport and our digital infrastructures to create new , sustainable assets fit for the century ahead .”
Sutcliffe , focusing on energy infrastructure , added that world events are causing many to rethink how the global economy needs to be powered and that energy security and climate change are being talked about together .
“ World events are driving a re-think in many sectors on how we manage our economy . Wars in Ukraine and now the Middle East are driving home the point that oil and gas based economies are very vulnerable to these kinds of events .
“ But we are now witnessing the impact of climate change on our weather systems and its potential to disrupt our everyday life . Climate risk is real and happening . We need to make major changes now which are low carbon and more secure ,” he concluded .
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