Without a concerted effort by governments and international financial institutions to harmonise standards and strengthen incentives for investments in decarbonisation across the developing world, mid-century net-zero targets will slip out of reach. Three issues, in particular, warrant greater attention.
The fallout from Covid-19, climate change and conflicts are no longer isolated pockets of misery. We need a new multilateral system – one mirroring national schemes on taxes, incentives and accountability – to provide global public goods.
Permanently protecting large, mature forests is a faster and cheaper way to stabilise Earth's climate than complex carbon capture and storage schemes, and more effective than planting new trees.
WWF's Margaret Kuhlow argues that investment in both human and planetary health must be the bedrock of resilience, recovery and prosperity amid the pandemic.