Discussion paper

Raising $23 Trillion: Greening Banks & Capital Markets for Growth

October 14, 2018

In December 2015, at the Conference of the Parties 21 (“COP 21”) in Paris, France, 196 countries came together to forge a climate change agreement that pledged to keep global warming to 2 degrees Celsius or less. To bring the world to this 2-degree track, the International Energy Agency estimates that the cumulative investments needed in energy supply and efficiency reach $53 trillion. This paper analyzes the role of the banking sector and debt capital markets to provide the financing, given the results of IFC’s analysis—that there $23 trillion in climate-smart investment opportunities exist in emerging markets from 2016–2030.