The COP29 climate conference has more of a focus on emerging markets than seen at previous such events, according to Sara Rosner, director of environmental research and engagement at AllianceBernstein.
“(EM) is much more in the spotlight this year than previously,” Rosner, also senior vice president, said in an interview with Pensions & Investments on the third day of the event hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan. AB had $793 billion in assets under management as of Oct. 31.
“Countries are thinking seriously about how to finance adaptation and mitigation in emerging markets. The recent developments in carbon markets also seem to be a key element to that financial flow,” she said.
At a news conference on the first day of COP29, Filipino representative Tetet Nera-Lauron, adviser for the United Nations Programme at policy lobbyist Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, also called for more climate finance to flow to developing economies, and findings from the MSCI Net Zero Tracker showed that 90% of climate investments are in developed markets.
Rosner also identified alternative ways in which institutional investors could be placing money into the sustainability sector: “Historically, the financial services sector has tended to focus on mitigation, such as emissions reduction and transition risk,” she said.
“What I've seen over the past 12 to 18 months has been more focus around resiliency and adaptation. This means not just thinking about the physical risk for more severe weather, but also thinking about the opportunities to invest in the products and services that will enable businesses and communities to become more resilient in in a world with climate change,” she said.
A further development seen at COP29 was the inclusion of language urging the provision of finance to support the fossil fuels phase out and clarify that climate finance must not go to fossil fuels, in the draft New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance text.
The Group of 77, a bloc representing 80% of the world's population, also called for a target of $1.3 trillion per year in climate-related finance investments to support developing economies in climate mitigation and transition.
Climate finance and support for developing economies most exposed to the effects of climate change was also on the mind of UN Secretary General António Guterres, as he delivered comments at the COP29 Leader's Summit of Small Island Developing States on Climate Change on Nov. 13.
“(SIDS) are on the sharp end of a colossal injustice. An injustice that sees the very future of your islands threatened by rising seas,” he said.
“Your people pounded by record hurricanes, your economies torn apart. This is an injustice perpetrated by the few. The G20 account for around 80% of global emissions, and it is an injustice that must end. Your nations (the Small Island Developing States) are demonstrating what climate ambition looks like. You are the first responders. The world must follow you. And it must support you,” Guterres said.
Small Island Developing States include Caribbean islands such as Barbados, whose prime minister Mia Mottley at a Nov. 12 climate forum at COP29 urged world leaders to commit to capitalizing funds to aid in the mitigation of the global climate crisis.
