Congrats to Global SWF for undertaking this analysis, cited by Reuters, and to Norwegian NGO Future in Our Hands for funding it. Happy to have provided the initial idea, and connected the two organisations. Also cited by the Norwegian press. Time to sign up the Fund for the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance!

Diego López and I argue that Norway should sign up its sovereign fund for the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, at COP26. The fund’s total portfolio carbon emissions are twice the amount of Norway’s total emissions. Country-level measurement of greenhouse gas emissions, which is standard under international agreements, therefore understates Norway’s climate impact, and the Read more about New Zealand sets climate benchmark for Norway. OMFIF[…]

Emissions abatement must become standard component for new gasfields development. Pdf version.

With thanks to co-authors at Stanford and Maastricht universities: our paper on how multilateral finance institutions could mobilise way more capital from institutional investors.

In energy-intensive sectors, a carbon border tax could shift the geography of investment. Original French version published in Le Monde, 11.07.2020. English version on OECD Development Matters. Published 03.09.2020.  

As oil-exporting countries struggle to respond to the crisis, there is a way to make critical fiscal resources available.

To achieve significant climate impact, Norway’s sovereign fund will need to direct its investments at ‘greenfield’ projects. Also published in Norwegian, in Dagens Næringsliv. Reply from Kari Olrud Moen, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Finance, Norway, and my reply to Olrud Moen.

If the world is to avert climate calamity, multilateral finance institutions must begin looking to large institutional investors as their partners and clients. The creation of a new global climate finance facility, appropriately ring-fenced from current financing initiatives, could help.

Multilateral finance institutions have committed to mobilizing capital from private investors, largely through so-called blended finance, in order to fund climate action and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. To succeed, these institutions may need to start functioning more like private investment organizations themselves.    

Multilateral development banks and development finance institutions have rightly increased their efforts to mobilize private capital. This essay discusses how a shift toward early-stage equity investment in infrastructure, and engagement with strategic investment funds, could significantly strengthen their capacity on that front, and increase the likelihood of the world achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Read more about A New Approach to Infrastructure Finance. Project Syndicate[…]