Publications

For several years now, the idea of using capital requirements for environmental purposes has been gaining ground. But before this can happen, however, several questions about such requirements need to be resolved, particularly as regards the instrument to be used and the objective to be achieved. Michel Cardona from I4CE has released this OpEd available on Euractiv

Climate change dynamics are on a trajectory of intensification which may require the use of new and notable measures. The Paris Agreement recognized the urgency of directing financial flows toward low carbon activities and climate-resilient development. However, the latest special Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report 1 stated that to limit global warming to 1.5oC, the financial resources directed to green activities are by far insufficient and investments on carbon intensive projects are still far too high. At the same time, climate-related risks continue to potentially endanger the stability of the financial sector and they are only marginally addressed by Basel III capital requirements.

Public development banks have a major role to play in the fight against climate change. Ian Cochran and Alice Pauthier from I4CE explain in this blogpost the principal technical and political challenges those finance institutions will need to overcome in aligning with the Paris Agreement objectives.

For too long climate change has remained confined to the green silos of our public institutions: it was onyl the business of Environment Ministries. The situation seems to have improved over the last ten years, but we are still a long way from “climate mainstreaming”. For Benoit Leguet, Director of I4CE, 2020 will offer multiple opportunities to test commitments, in France and internationally.

In a general context of higher carbon prices and with a growing interest from companies to finance local emissions reductions projects, several European countries have started developing their own domestic carbon certification standards since the early 2010s. This study provides an overview of existing standards and of the obstacles they must overcome, as well as […]

Authors: Nicolas Berghmans (IDDRI), Antoine Guillou (Terra Nova), Thomas Pellerin-Carlin (Jacques Delors Institute), Emmanuel Tuchscherer (Fondapol), Charlotte Vailles (I4CE) and Ian Cochran (I4CE) Almost four years after the signing of the Paris Agreement, the European Union (EU) must quickly raise its ambition in the fight against climate change if it wants to maintain its leadership […]

The global community needs to transform the world economy to become low-carbon and climate resilient. This is the commitment made by the international community in the Paris Climate Agreement. However, humanity needs to find a way to finance this goal. The European Commission estimates that a funding gap of at least EUR 180bn p.a. exist […]

On the opening of the 25th Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP 25) which is  held in Madrid from 2 to 13 December 2019, I4CE-Institute for Climate Economics and the French Ministry of the Ecological and Inclusive Transition are pleased to present the 2020 edition of Key Figures on climate – France, Europe, […]

Aligning with the Paris Agreement: what does it mean for the International Development Finance Club?   International Development Finance Club Pavilion Saturday 7 December, 2-3:30 pm   The Paris Agreement has reframed climate action from a focus on the near-term incremental increase of adaptation and mitigation actions to emphasize the importance of the long-term transformation […]

Since 2012, I4CE has been tracking climate investment and finance in France and similar assessments have been conducted in Germany by IKEM. This study compares the methodologies and results of these two exercises – the most advanced in Europe. The paper allows an initial comparison of investments in the two countries, identifying similarities in priority […]

On 25 October, a conference was held in Paris to “replenish” the resources of the Green Climate Fund. 27 countries have made pledges, for a total amount of nearly $10 billion. Good news? Insufficient? For Alice Pauthier of [i4ce], the impact of the Green Climate Fund should not only be assessed against this figure. The Fund also has a transformational effect, particularly on the many financial institutions that, in order to access its resources, must follow an accreditation process. A process that may well become more and more demanding.

  It therefore brings risks and opportunities for economic actors, which they must anticipate in order to optimise their strategy in a context of uncertainty. Against this backdrop, the use of scenarios – which are plausible representations of uncertain future states – is very useful in order to better understand the medium- and long-term challenges […]

It is no easy task to take climate risks – transition risks and physical risks – into account in financial management practices. As this note shows from the example of banking activities, the intrinsic characteristics of these risks – which are long-term and cannot be assigned a probability and for which there are no historical […]

In September 2019 in New York City, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres convened a “United Nations Climate Action Summit” to increase the ambition and momentum of global climate action. While the outcomes of the Summit itself – particularly from country Parties – are seen as deeply disappointing, there are nevertheless a number of ‘silver linings’ to keep in mind on the road to Santiago. Alice Pauthier and Ian Cochran share four key ideas to focus efforts moving forward.

The 2019 Edition of I4CE’s Landscape of Climate Finance provides an overview of the investments made by governments, households and businesses in support of the French government’s climate-related objectives. The 2019 edition of the Landscape reveals that climate investments exceeded 45 billion euros in 2018 in France. These investments were made by households, public authorities […]

The vote on the state budget is a key moment in the fight against climate change. In France,more than 250 budget measures have been identified: expenditures, tax exemptions, taxes, all of which have a significant influence, upward or downward, on national greenhouse gas emissions. 250 reasons to keep a close eye on the state budget. […]

I4CE has just released a “framework for Alignment with the Paris Agreement”, Ian Cochran discusses here what “Alignment” simply means.

Ahead of the Climate Summit, Alice Pauthier from I4CE discuss the major issues of the Summit and related events happening in New York: beyond raising ambition, finance will be on the agenda. She will be in New York with Ian Cochran to present and discuss outcomes of I4CE’s latest report on Paris Alignment, a subject that everyone talks about… without sharing a common understanding of what it is and implies.