U.K.’s Sunak Sees Need to Turn Paper Pledges Into Climate Action

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said the world must translate hundreds of billions of dollars of pledges from companies and governments into concrete action on climate change, as he hailed a new “wall of capital” directed toward eliminating fossil fuel emissions.

Sunak spoke in an interview at the United Nations climate change talks in Glasgow, Scotland, where earlier he’d vowed that the developed world will live up to a pledge to deliver $100 billion in climate finance a year. Also on Wednesday, more than 450 firms representing $130 trillion of assets promised to reach net zero carbon emissions by mid-century.

“That wall of capital can now be deployed toward net zero aims helping developing countries,” Sunak told Bloomberg TV. “We need to make sure that the governance works, it’s high quality, and that what sits there on a piece of paper is actually going to turn into tangible actual projects on the ground that are going to make a difference to people’s lives.”

Addressing delegates at what’s been dubbed finance day at the summit, Sunak earlier promised to step up international climate aid, mobilize private sector finance and overhaul the global financial system to align it with a net zero future.

While developed countries aren’t meeting their $100 billion aid pledge “soon enough,” he said, the U.K. will be working to ensure the pledge is met “sooner” than currently expected. A report last month suggested the promise would be met in 2023 -- three years behind schedule. 

Sunak also said policy makers aim “to rewire the entire global financial system for net zero,” by bringing in rules on sustainability and climate reporting by companies. To that end, the U.K. has convened over 30 advanced and developing countries representing more than 70% of global economic output to back the creation of new global climate reporting standards.

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