Friday, December 11, 2015

Key to Success of Climate Pact Will Be Its Signals to Global Markets

As diplomats here work through the final points of a sweeping new climate change accord, experts said the ultimate measure of success of the agreement will be whether it sends a clear signal to global financial investors that they should move money away from fossil fuels and toward clean-energy sources such as wind and solar power. From Our Advertisers Without that signal, there is little chance that emissions will be reduced enough to stave off the most catastrophic impacts of global warming. The appeal to investors remained a question mark early Friday morning after Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister who is presiding over the United Nations conference on climate change, released a near-final draft text. It addressed many sticking points of the talks, and largely cleared the way for a final deal that accomplishes many of the goals that climate-policy advocates say are necessary to start reducing global emissions. But the draft dodges the issue of how countries would monitor, verify and report their levels of planet-warming pollution. The impact of the deal hangs on that one section, experts say, because without it, no one will be able to trust that governments are doing what they say they will do to cut emissions. Without that certainty, investors will be skittish about shifting to renewable energy...more

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