Held against the backdrop of the 10th edition of Carbon Expo, the leading annual global Trade Fair and Conference on climate and carbon finance, panel discussions focused on the fast-evolving international climate finance landscape and potential sources of low-carbon finance. International experts identified and assessed opportunities and challenges linked to ambitious low-carbon goals while paying particular attention to decarbonizing energy mixes and building infrastructure worldwide.

Wolfram Haller, Climate Finance Expert, Siemens and member of the ICC Commission on Environment and Energy, stressed the importance of bonds for stepping up investment in sustainable infrastructure projects such as wind parks, solar installations, transportation systems and other large-scale projects. Addressing the role of public and private sectors, Mr Haller said: “Both parties need to join forces to create the necessary de-risking mechanisms and regulatory frameworks.” The Siemens expert also highlighted different motivations between newer avenues such as promising green bonds finance and more traditional carbon finance mechanisms such as Clean Development Mechanism projects.

Panellists also shed light on the design and viability of notable ‘green’ financial products in areas such as insurance, re-insurance, structured finance, asset management and retail. They discussed how this new class of products could become more important in meeting both climate policy and finance objectives.

“One of the critical issues is the mobilization of capital in order to deploy the necessary technology on a large-scale basis. High upfront costs and risks are main barriers for deployment in addition to bringing new technologies to the markets,” Mr Haller said.

ICC Commission on Environment and Energy Policy Manager Andrea Bacher said: “Climate finance remains high on the agenda in international climate negotiations. ICC will continue to be the voice of global business in these negotiations and work on climate finance with a focus on scaling up energy efficiency investments given their potential to reduce emissions and costs.”

For more information please visit the ICC Commission on Environment and Energy