Alderman William Russell, Lord Mayor of London: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the
Green Horizon Summit. These are sobering circumstances in which
we find ourselves here in London and around the world. While the
effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to unfold, and shape
our immediate future, we remain united in determination to meet
this challenge. It is testament to our commitment and
adaptability, that so many of you are able to join us today,
when COP26 was originally scheduled. Together, we
represent over 90 countries and countless aspirations. Although
tempting to focus on the short term, today, we must turn to our
long term future and prosperity. For the battle for the future
will not just be with COVID-19, but with the impacts of climate
change. Five years ago, Mark Carney laid down a challenge to
the financial services industry. He described climate change as
the tragedy of the horizon, with physical and transition risk
manifesting beyond the planning horizons of financial
institutions, the business cycle and the political cycle. Mark
challenged us all to break the tragedy over the horizon by
aligning the data and information flows at the heart
of finance with climate related risks. In the five years since
much has changed. The Paris Agreement has given us political
consensus and a long term target, limiting warming to one
and a half degrees. The IPCC has given us scientific consensus
and a trajectory. A Paris aligned future means achieving
net zero by 2050. National governments are giving us
measurable goals; according to Bloomberg about 60% of global
co2 emissions, and now covered by a net zero commitment. And I
look forward to a time early next year when this reaches 75%,
as the US rejoins the Paris Agreement, and President Elect
Joe Biden advances his climate and recovery plans. Financial
regulators have also given us clear expectations. Climate
risks are financially material, and must be managed by financial
institutions. And the TCFD, the NGFS and others have given us
the tools to respond. Climate related financial risks must be
disclosed, scenario analysis can tackle the uncertainty. We are
now in a world where you're as likely to hear climate risk and
response discussed in boardrooms as you are to debate strategy
and profit. For now, we understand they are inextricably
linked. The science tells us that if we do not act now,
climate tipping points threaten to rapidly and irreversibly
alter our planetary ecosystem. Today, we stand at a tipping
point for finance, the point at which we can trigger an
everlasting cycle of innovation and investment for net zero.
Although finance is beginning to power towards a net zero, and
climate resilient future, we are not yet firing on all cylinders,
and not in all markets. We have yet to reach a future in which
every financial decision takes climate change into account. A
future in which national and corporate transition plans are
clear and capitalised, or a future in which green finance is
simply called finance. Our window to act is finite and
closing quickly. Each and every one of us understands this.
institutions like our sponsors Barclays and NinetyOne are
already acting fast to capture the opportunities aligned with
the transition. As we know one of the greatest global economic
transformations looms before us. Every sector of the economy must
evolve from construction to manufacturing, transport, food
and clothing, services and power.
As we all know, this requires a transformation in every country,
from developed markets, to emerging economies, to unrated
and frontier nations, all within a few short decades. This
transformation cannot be a success if we do not work
together across the public and private sectors, across the
financial and real economy, across all 90 countries here
today. We need a sophisticated dialogue that captures all of
policy and regulation, capital markets and the changing demands
of investors from retail savers to global asset managers. We
know this is essential to raise and move the capital we need.
That is why the City of London, together with the Green Finance
Institute, and with the support of the World Economic Forum, are
hosting today's Green Summit live from Mansion House. Over
the next three days, we will hear from political leaders,
major financial institutions, leading regulators and
corporates, all at the coalface of this transition. Their views
are clear. We have the tools and capabilities to tackle this
transition, but we must act now. So today I would encourage you
ahead of COP26 in Glasgow, to listen, to engage, and most
importantly to consider what we can do together in the coming
twelve months. Now this morning we are in for a treat. in quick
succession, we will hear Mark Carney, Christine Lagarde,
Kristalina Georgieva and Paolo Gentiloni, all sharing their
views on what we need to do to drive towards a green recovery.
We will then hear from the private sector, with John Green
from NinetyOne and a panel with Jess Daily, Liv Garfield, David
Schwimmer and Angela Darlington, on how finance can mobilise to
support the recovery. Finally, we will hear from the Governor
of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, and FCA Chief, Nikhil
Rathi, for their take on managing climate risk in a time
of radical uncertainty.