But here’s the rub: It’s unlikely that these reductions in air pollution will continue as world economies reopen. What we need is systemic change – thickness through government policy, supported by science and driven by the resources and innovation of the private sector.
Companies, especially those in the financial sector like us, can have an enormously positive impact on the climate movement. By transforming energy systems, industrial processes, land use, buildings, transportation and other infrastructure so that they are more sustainable, we were able to simultaneously create thousands of new jobs and help support a post-pandemic recovery.
The financial sector, with its deep resources and ethos of risk management while capitalizing on opportunity, should be the center of this movement. Here we can make a difference:
For start-ups, financial institutions can create a uniform set of standards for companies to identify and disclose the potential impact of their businesses on the environment and the potential effects of climate change on their businesses. This transparency, in turn, will help insurers, credit bureaus, lenders and other investors to better evaluate and price those risks and opportunities. It will also provide incentives for companies to publicize, take action and address their environmental effects.
I have always believed that you can not control what you can not measure, and that is especially true with a warming planet. It is imperative that banks like us continue to develop tools to understand the consequences of climate change across our lending portfolios. We need to be willing to have open conversations with our clients about what they need to do to reduce their emissions – and if we do not agree on the need to make this transition, then we need to have the courage to leave.
Work with the fossil fuel sector
As one of the world’s largest supporters of fossil fuels, Citi has heard calls to fully disinvest from the sector. But that would mean that the legs of the world economy are sleeping because we remain so dependent on oil and gas to drive our cars, heat our homes and refuel our ships and planes.
Invest in innovation
As part of our drive to drive the transition to a sustainable economy, we recently pursued a 10-year commitment to fund and facilitate $ 100 billion in environmental activities, including the world’s largest offshore wind farm off the coast of England, trains for the new Panama City subway system, water-saving technology in Barbados and energy-efficient affordable housing in the South Bronx part of New York City.
The fact that we met this 10-year goal four years before the scheme shows not only the demand among local communities for climate solutions, but also the lucrative business opportunities for institutions like ours. We are now making a new five-year effort to support a further $ 250 billion in environmental activities.
None of this will be easy, especially now. At a time when economies are approaching, many sectors are worried about the survival of the next quarter, let alone the next quarter. Companies certainly question the affordability of an environmental agenda in the midst of a liquidity crisis that has raised several existential challenges.
But in many ways this is a false dilemma. Among the biggest lessons we need to learn from the pandemic are the inextricable links between our economic health and our physical health and the directness of the threats to our planet. As we have seen, the companies that had a strong focus on sustainability and resilience – in particular regarding responsible supply chain management and employee well-being – have been in a much stronger position to tackle the destruction. grab the globe from the coronavirus pandemic.
This is not a time to retire from making our businesses more sustainable and prosperous. Instead, it’s time to dump her and move on.
.
