With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and inflation now at the top of the agenda for many world leaders, the climate crisis has been pushed to the back burner. Yet the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently warned that any further delay in concerted global climate action will result in missing the world’s last opportunity to secure a livable future for all. One promising mechanism for action is climate finance; nevertheless, experts estimate an annual shortfall of $850 billion in climate-related financing in developing markets, which need it most. The United States and China, as the world’s two largest economies and carbon emitters, have an opportunity to accelerate financing for low-carbon technologies, particularly in developing countries.
In an interview conducted on April 6, 2022, Kelly Sims Gallagher discusses the importance of U.S.-China cooperation in accelerating global climate finance.
