The annual United Nations climate change conference is underway in Dubai, and swirling around the COP28 negotiations is a complex, acrimonious, international fight over money:How much capital is available to help developing countries transition to renewable energy and cope with extreme weather?
And critically, what kinds of interest rates will lenders charge?
And yet there is a bedeviling economic paradox inhibiting efforts to create a more sustainable world: It’s relatively easy to find financing for the dirty projects the world needs less of, but maddeningly difficult to finance the clean projects the world needs more of.
In the United States, rising interest rates are leading big companies to cancel plans for huge renewable developments.
But the disconnect is particularly acute in the developing world, and especially Africa, where many people have little or no access to electricity.
Organizations:
United
Locations:
United Nations, Dubai, United States, Africa