Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
1/23/2015
As several of the world’s public and private sector leaders gather this week in Davos, Switzerland, for the 2015 World Economic Forum, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim is calling on those in attendance to take action on the development of a carbon price. “In Davos, pricing carbon will be at the forefront of climate issues. In conversations with finance ministers and business leaders over the past two years, I have watched the focus turn from doubts on whether it was possible to take action to finding ways to price carbon most effectively,” Kim wrote in an opinion piece published by the Huffington Post this week.
Kim noted that several individual countries and some in the private sector have supported and begun implementation of carbon pricing on their own. Almost 40 countries and more than 20 cities, states, and provinces now price carbon or plan to, Kim wrote, going on to reference a petition signed by 74 countries and over 1,000 companies at the Climate Leadership Summit held in New York in September. Kim also stressed the importance of the private sector in combating climate change. “The private sector is increasingly leading the climate fight. In Davos, business leaders will present possible solutions for reducing emissions and for implementing carbon pricing. Because public finance won’t solve the climate challenge alone, we need the private sector’s active involvement to find solutions that benefit their business as well as the Earth,” he wrote.
Placing a price on carbon alone is not enough, however, Kim wrote, “Reforming fossil fuel subsidies will be a critical and necessary step. More than $500 billion is sunk into direct fossil fuel subsidies globally every year, accounting for more than 5 [percent] of GDP in several countries. This is money that should be invested in resilience, health care, and targeted support for the poor, and in developing the clean technologies that can move the world toward a safer future,” Kim wrote. “Our choices now can lead to a cleaner, healthier world. With strong leaders from both the public and private sector, we can slow climate change now by putting a price on carbon, eliminating fuel subsidies, and bring together bold, innovative country plans. This year must be the year that the world turns away from the destructive path that we have been on for far too long.”
