The captains of business and finance gathered in Davos this week will spend a lot of time talking about climate change — and how to make money from it, despite the change of political weather in Washington.

Donald Trump has promised to withdraw the U.S. from the global accord signed in Paris in 2015 and has often ridiculed global warming.

The World Economic Forum is devoting 15 sessions of its 2017 annual meeting to climate change, and nine more to clean energy — the most ever on the issues.

How much is at stake is reflected by it. But billions of dollars — maybe even trillions — in potential profits and losses is the primary question for global business leaders and it’s not just a question of burnishing their green credentials. While car makers are putting real money into electric vehicles, banks want to lend money for renewable electricity projects, energy giants are shaping their business for a world that’s moving away from oil and coal and insurers are starting to price-in more frequent flooding and droughts.

“The good thing is that the Paris agreement raised the bar for everyone,” said Ben van Beurden, the head of Royal Dutch Shell Plc., Europe’s largest oil group. “Everybody feels the obligation to act.”

According International Energy Agency data that shows the scale of the opportunity for business, achieving the ambitions set out in Paris may require $13.5 trillion of spending through to 2030.

“The scale and scope of the investment flows on renewables shows it’s mainstream,” said David Turk, head of climate change at the IEA in Paris and a former senior U.S. climate diplomat.

Mingling in panel discussions with executives such as HSBC Holdings Plc Chairman Stuart Gulliver and Patrick Yu, president of Cofco Corp., the largest food company in China will be traditional climate change advocates — Al Gore and Greenpeace executive director Jennifer Morgan, even with money-making opportunities rising,.

“Climate change is material and central for many companies and their boards,” said Dominic Waughray, head of public-private partnership at the World Economic Forum. “Climate change is a core part of the growth agenda.”

Despite the arrival of Trump, the fight against global warming will continue, Michael Oppenheimer, a professor at Princeton University who will help to explain the exhibit, said.

“No matter what the U.S. president says, the progress on climate change can have many routes,” he said. “The U.S. can harm progress, but will not stop progress.”

“Leadership on climate change is proving to be remarkably resilient,” said Christiana Figueres, the UN’s former top climate change diplomat, who will be in Davos speaking on a panel.

China is now lecturing the U.S. and Europe on the importance of the issue even though it has for years sought to derail global efforts to tackle climate change. After making green finance a key topic for China’s presidency of the Group of 20 nations last year, Xi Jinping will be the first sitting Chinese president to attend Davos.

(Adapted from Bloomberg)

Categories: Economy & Finance