$130 tn: COP26 Alliance of Financiers To Invest Huge Sum To Reach Climate Goals

The commitment will aim to assist global industries and businesses in becoming carbon-neutral in their operations.

Mark Carney is spearheading the United Nations Glasgow Financial Alliance for net zero.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@levinepmc) 

At the COP26 meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, an alliance of planet's richest investors and bankers pledged to make massive investments to achieve a net-zero emissions target by 2050, Reuters reported.

The alliance known as the United Nations Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, consists of 450 banks, insurers and asset managers in 45 countries, according to New York Times.

The commitment will also aim to assist global industries and businesses in becoming carbon-neutral in their operations.

The individual at the centre of this alliance is Mark Carney, a Canadian economist and banker who previously served as the governor of the Bank of England.

In a statement, Charney said, "We now have the essential plumbing in place to move climate change from the fringes to the forefront of finance so that every financial decision takes climate change into account.”

An alliance that would ensure that global warming revolves around all future global financial policies, it is committed to limit the rise of the global temperature to 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The coalition, however, received criticism on numerous factors, one of which was the lack of importance given to fossil fuels.

Richard Brooks, a climate expert, said that the "announcement yet again ignores the biggest elephant in the room: fossil fuel companies," and that the world "cannot keep under 1.5 degrees if financial institutions don’t stop funding coal, oil and gas companies," New York Times added.

Sonia Hierzig, who heads the finance department of ShareAction, a charity that promotes environment-friendly investments, had a similar opinion about the lack of restrictions surrounding coal projects.

She, however, did say that it is "still positive that at least there’s a recognition that we need to mobilise a large amount of money."

(With inputs from Reuters and New York Times.)