Sharm El-Sheikh– Helge Muenkel — Chief Sustainability Officer at DBS Bank in Singapore — revealed on Monday that the bank launched a business accelerator to support emerging projects operating in sectors related to reducing carbon emissions and contributing to the global transition towards a world without carbon emissions.
He added to Daily News Egypt that there are new climate solutions related to business accelerators that have been launched to finance companies and emerging projects related to climate change, or those that provide solutions that suit the environment and reduce pollution in general, which have witnessed popularity over the past two years.
He also believes that this trend would shift a lot of money from traditional activities that cause pollution to green and renewable activities.
Muenkel also stressed that the COP27’s events are very important to maintain international pressure to implement climate pledges and serve as a force to confront climate change and maintain a liveable environment.
It also provides a great opportunity for countries to negotiate the funds needed to confront climate changes and adaptation, how to deal with those changes, face challenges related to it, and create opportunities for cooperation to solve problems.
In his view, the COP27 is focused not only on increasing pledges for climate action, but on the steps that need to be taken on this most important issue of all.
It is also focusing on how to adapt to climate by developing mechanisms through which countries suffering from climate crises can be helped, along with creating new solutions and ways to finance the process.
Furthermore, he pointed out that major countries have always promised to pump billions of dollars to finance climate change, however, they do not fulfil those pledges, which is disappointing, pointing out that this COP must maintain pressure at its highest levels in order to obtain the funds required to finance climate action.
Additionally, he pointed out that there is another matter that requires more funding, which is compensation and damages caused by climate change, noting that it is crucial to making the countries causing the losses assume their responsibilities towards the countries that suffer from the consequences.
Meunkel added that this is the first time that Singapore participates in the climate conference, and despite Singapore’s small size as a country, it plays a very important role in the climate change process, creating sustainability, and moving towards the climate adaptation process, which is what the bank has been doing during the last period.
He stressed that the whole world is in a very difficult situation that is not only facing climate change, but also facing rising inflation, affecting access to food items.
He concluded that all these factors lead to one path, which is the importance of accelerating the process of climate adaptation and the transition to green economies.
