Al Gore: Markets are key in battle to combat climate change

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Al Gore: Markets are key in battle to combat climate change

Former US vice president Al Gore praises commitment of financial institutions to find solutions to global warming in exclusive interview with Euromoney.

Green finance special section

Al Gore interview: Exclusive to Euromoney 


 

Al Gore, the former vice president of the United States and leading environmental campaigner, says that market forces will play the pre-eminent role in the fight to combat climate change in an exclusive interview published by Euromoney. Gore says he is encouraged by the commitment of some of the world’s largest financial institutions to pledge capital and intellectual resources to financing new technology that will assist in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“In some cases the commitment of larger banking institutions has run ahead of the expertise and knowledge that currently exists. And that’s OK. It’s right to try to understand the best ways to maximise the opportunities. It’s a massive shift, and it’s going to pick up speed and be one of the largest movements in the history of business," Gore said in an interview with Euromoney’s editor, Clive Horwood.

In a special report that was distributed at the annual World Bank/IMF meetings in Washington, Euromoney looks at the extent to which green finance will change the fabric of the global capital markets in the years to come, speaking to the thought-leaders at the world’s largest banks about their strategies to assist in – and benefit from – the challenge of climate change.

Access the Al Gore interview and Euromoney’s extensive green finance coverage now.

Al Gore interview: “Markets are the key to climate change”

Al Gore explains why a new approach to investment is needed and discusses his own hands-on experience, adopts an unusual position in the carbon tax versus cap-and-trade debate, and says banks are generally ahead of the game – but still have a lot more to do.


More green finance:


Green finance special focus

Euromoney looks at the extent to which green finance will change the fabric of the global capital markets in the years to come, speaking to the thought-leaders at the world’s largest banks about their strategies to assist in – and benefit from – the challenge of climate change.



The new colour of money
Global warming is the biggest issue facing society. Markets can play a crucial role in combating climate change. Banks see a huge opportunity to be agents for good – and make plenty of money in the process. How big can green finance become?
  Environmentalists at the gates
  Caring, not sharing
  Eco-magine all the people 

 
     

Carbon markets: Hot times for emissions trading
Banks have come to realize that to make money from emissions trading markets they would do well to tie up with the consultants that understand the technicalities and with the corporates that own Clean Development Mechanism schemes. 
 

Green finance:
Cleaning up in China


Baffled at first by the unwonted benevolence of the clean development mechanism, Chinese enterprises rapidly jumped on the carbon trading bandwagon. There have been instances where companies have metaphorically as much as literally cleaned up – either way the net effect is beneficial to the environment. 
   Can restriction talk be more than hot air?
 
Opinion: A bet on climate
Harnessing market forces for innovation will create technology options, and a more stable climate, for future generations, argues Jon Anda, president of the Environmental Markets Network at Environmental Defense.



Hedge funds: Man’s green stand starts to pay off
Man is the world’s largest hedge fund group, with more than $65 billion in assets. It also claims to be the greenest hedge fund. CEO Peter Clarke tells Helen Avery how alternative investment firms can offer the returns investors want and play a positive role in preventing climate change.
         

Hedge funds: Green trimmings 
A growing social conscience about the environment has opened up new technologies and markets that offer hedge funds new areas in which to find alpha. But it is still a nascent area and the number of players is small. Helen Avery interviews four managers to see how they are approaching the emerging asset class. 
   Impax Asset Management: Shorting the non-environmentalists
   Climate Change Capital: Towards a carbon hedge fund
   Clean Energy Asset Management: Focusing on renewable energy
   BioFinancial Corp: Creating new markets to trade in
  
Opinion: Green police help keep climate change action on the fringes
Market forces have the best chance of driving significant actions that will boost climate change. However the forces of resistance are strong – both from entrenched interests and the green movement itself. Charles Dumas of Lombard Street Research argues for the nuclear option.

 

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