Penguin Perspectives Blog

If short-term profits are prioritised above all else, our planet's resources will be over-consumed without the time to regenerate. Sustainable finance offers an approach that may help us avoid future calamities, not to mention long-term topics like climate change.

Flash forward: it is 2075 and we’ve set sail for the RCP 8.5 trajectory for 2100, the worst case climate scenario according to the IPCC. Imagine this: Pacific islands such as Tuvalu have long sunk into a rising ocean, heat and pollution take a toll on the global population, hurricanes and fires devastate poor communities on a regular basis, and huge swaths of Asia and Africa have become uninhabitable due to heat and drought. Quick shift back to the present: luckily we are not there. However, we are still far away from the emissions trajectory necessary for a 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming.

Stakeholders are demanding that we #BuildBackBetter; Green loan guarantees by governments are a proven instrument to bring about positive change – and speed up sustainable recovery efforts post-COVID19.

Covid-19 has brought irreversible changes to our society and economic systems. As we turn our attention towards rebuilding resilient economies, government policy on recovery is now top of mind. Bailout conditions in particular are capturing people’s attention. Leading the way, Canada has connected state aid with climate action.