A report by Ceres consultancy and Bloomberg New Energy Finance has found that $12.5 trillion of investment – 75 percent more than envisaged in the COP21 agreement – will be needed to meet the proposed emissions targets.
With global government debt currently running at more than $57 trillion, and private investors still struggling to overcome the aftermath of the 2008 credit crunch, it looks unlikely that we are going to meet even the modest targets agreed in Paris. Indeed, governments and corporations around the world will most likely tacitly follow the UK government’s example of talking green while acting brown.