Nigeria Climate Reports

ngrclimatereports December 15th, 2009

Compiled by Etim Imisim

Copenhagen: December 10, 2009 – The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, today launched the first ever eco-friendly stock market index that allows investors to track the carbon efficiency of companies doing business in emerging economies.

According to UN wire service, IFC established the Investable Emerging Markets Index which it is expecting to mobilize more than $1 billion for carbon-efficient companies over the next three years in partnership with the giant financial services corporation Standard and Poor’s (S&P).

The pioneering IFC/ S&P index is meant to encourage carbon-based competition among emerging-market businesses, give carbon-efficient companies access to long-term investors and result in lower carbon emissions in developing countries, as well as reducing the carbon footprint of investors’ portfolios.

“With growing pressure on investors to diversify and maintain returns by increasing exposure to emerging markets, and with more and more investors keen to demonstrate a preference for sustainability… IFC hopes that the launch of this index will help ensure that carbon efficiency is rewarded,” said IFC Vice-President for Business Advisory Services Rachel Kyte.

The announcement comes on the fourth day of the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen, where over 100 heads of State and government are slated to convene next week in a bid to wrap up an international pact to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

NIGERIA CLIMATE REPORTS recalls that, six months ago, nearly two dozen agencies of the United Nations system came together to issue an urgent call for nations to ‘green’ their economies to address the multiple crises that are dampening progress towards reaching development targets.

In a joint June statement 25, 2009 to the high-level UN Conference on the World financial and Economic Crisis and its Impacts on Development currently underway then in New York, 21 agencies joined forces to underscore the need for a shift to a green economy that can spur job creation and curb a multitude of threats ranging from current crises related to food, water and climate change.

The statement underscored the need for fiscal reforms which can encourage green investment, as well as phasing out “perverse” subsidies which result in the excessive use of fossil fuels in agriculture and fisheries.

“The solidarity of the international community is being tested,” said the statement. “Let this economic recovery be the turning point for an ambitious and effective international response to the multiple crises facing humanity.”

The ultimate test, the agencies pointed out, will come in December when nations are expected to wrap up negotiations in the Danish capital on a new climate change pact that will replace the Kyoto Protocol, whose first commitment period expires in 2012.

“Let Copenhagen be the turning point for ushering in a global green economy,” they said. Among signatories to the June statement were the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank Group.

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