Low angle view of modern skyscrapers in Midtown Manhattan.

Finance

Translating the Landscape of Climate Action Efforts in the Financial Sector

The debate over whether private financial institutions should play a proactive role in the low-carbon transition is coming to a close and significant efforts to define what this role should be in practice have begun. The role of private finance in climate action is being defined by two significant trends.

From Pledges to Action: RMI Launches the Center for Climate-Aligned Finance

Ratcheting down carbon emissions to net zero by the middle of the century is a historic project without parallel in human history. It is not the responsibility of any single country or any single sector. But one sector provides the lifeblood that powers all the others: finance. The financial sector…

How to Retire Early: Making Accelerated Coal Phaseout Feasible and Just

For over a century, growing presence of coal smokestacks worldwide signified economic development and progress. Coal supplied our homes with electricity and our factories with power. At the same time, this workhorse of the industrial era caused serious harm to our health and the environment. Today, the costs of continuing…

Carbon dioxide emissions control and pollution concept

In a Pandemic or a Climate Crisis, You Better Get Your Data Right

According to polls, it was mid-March when most of us in the United States understood the severity of COVID-19. At the same time, we were collectively searching for data to drive lifesaving decision-making. Close all business and keep people inside homes? Or allow some degree of freedom? What would…

Green Banks 101

Green banks are ideally positioned to assist countries with the implementation of their nationally determined contributions, as per the terms of the Paris Agreement.