104 CLIMATE CHANGE & SUSTAINABILITY
WHAT ’ S GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS
Achim Steiner , Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
Fabien Cousteau has a saying that “ What ’ s good for the environment is good for business .” Over three hundred leading financial institutions who are signatories to the Global Investor Statement on Climate Change agree .
The historic 2030 Agenda has laid the ground work for global progress with agreement on the sustainable development goals . Now the world ’ s leaders must have the courage to follow through on climate change ; securing a credible agreement in Paris , along with the means by which to both deliver it and to mitigate the consequences already being felt .
The G20 countries produce 76 % global carbon emissions and 85 % of GDP . That positions them to make as big a contribution to the solution as they do to the problem The Antalya Summit providing the perfect opportunity to secure agreement on the financial policies and structures to make that happen and the stakes could not be higher : the dignity , well-being , economic development , security and stability of a population rapidly approaching nine billion people . Sixty million of them are already fleeing conflict and disaster today , so if we fail to act on the environmental issues being clearly highlighted by the scientific community , that number can only grow .
There is no silver bullet solution , nor is there time to work our way through a series of small , incremental solutions . We need strong decisive , even disruptive , action to drive the transition to a more inclusive , sustainable green economy : not by investing more , but by investing more wisely . The infrastructure , technology and finance options are there , all that remains is to make the decision to use them .
Tackling the issues around energy and land use , which are the two biggest greenhouse gases emitters , will require the redirection of $ 1 trillion per year until 2050 . In 2013 , public financing for climate change was $ 137 billion and private investment $ 193 billion . However ,