Urgent private funding is needed to fight climate change: Nigel Green

Increasing deadly weather extremes around the world prove that mobilising private capital is “essential” and “urgent” in order to combat climate change, says the CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory, asset management and fintech organisations.

The call-to-action from deVere Group’s game-changing chief executive, Nigel Green, comes as it is revealed the past seven years have been the hottest on record, according to new data from the EU’s satellite system. The Copernicus Climate Change Service said 2021 was the fifth-warmest year, with record-breaking heat in some regions.

Nigel Green comments: “With almost depressing predictability, a ton of new heat records were smashed in 2021 and we witnessed more and more shocking extreme weather events.

“From the deadly heatwave that struck the west coast of the U.S. in the summer to the severe winter storms that shut down the grid in Texas in February; from Kenya’s two consecutive failed rain seasons, to the central region of China being hit with more rain in three days than in a normal year, there’s no getting away from the fact that the situation is getting increasingly serious all over the world.

“How many more major, real-world incidents do we need to underscore what the experts have been saying for years? This is happening quicker than many had anticipated.”

He continues: “With a growing frequency of incidents and higher levels of severity, it’s clear that governments alone cannot combat the worst effects of human-triggered climate change.

“Governments are best-positioned to develop, implement and manage policy, incentives, standards, metrics and regulations. And, yes, they must also provide top-level funding.

“But due to the tens of trillions likely to be needed for disaster prevention and mitigation, there will remain a major funding gap if we rely solely on the public sector.

“This is especially true as governments are still battling with the unprecedented financial fallout of the Covid pandemic, for which no country was prepared and that upended economies globally.”

Therefore, says Nigel Green, it is “essential to enable, unlock and mobilise private capital as a matter of urgency.”

To do this, the deVere CEO suggests a three-pronged approach.

First, “We need cooperation between financial advisories, insurance firms, banks, wealth and asset managers, investment companies, fintech groups, banks and auditors, amongst others, to help unlock and mobilise the trillions of dollars of private finance that is urgently required. Without this, the level of funds required will simply not be there.”

Second, “A global regulatory framework for environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing is now urgently required to further boost confidence and protections for investors.”

And third, “All climate risk and vulnerability data must be made immediately available by governments and their agencies as it is concluded in order to further strengthen the case for ESG-orientated investments.”

deVere’s calls follow the organisation’s pledge to position $2bn of assets under advisement into environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments within five years.

The Group is also one of 18 founding signatories of the UN-backed Net Zero initiative, the international alliance of powerhouse global finance companies that will help accelerate the transition to a net zero financial system. Its membership means it is committed to “aligning all relevant products and services to achieve net zero greenhouse gases by 2050 and to set meaningful interim targets for 2025.”

Nigel Green concludes: “Climate change remains the most serious risk multiplier to our planet, to our communities, and to our way of life.

“Failing to understand the magnitude of it now is going to have catastrophic, irreversible consequences later.

“Urgent private finance inflows are essential.”