美国财政部
公共事务办公室
华盛顿哥伦比亚特区
2021 年 11 月 3 日
财政部长珍妮特·L·耶伦（Janet L. Yellen）在苏格兰格拉斯哥举行的第26届联合国气候变化大会（COP26）金融日开幕式上的主题演讲
（准备稿）
在气候行动决定性的十年开始之际，在格拉斯哥举行的第26届联合国气候变化大会是一个关键时刻。气候危机已经到来。这不是对子孙后代的挑战，而是我们今天必须面对的挑战。
应对这一挑战将需要对我们的碳密集型经济进行全面转型。这是一个全球转型，我们对所需要的投入有一个估计：有人认为未来三十年的全球投入在100到150万亿美元之间。与此同时，应对气候变化也是我们这个时代最大的经济机遇。
格拉斯哥的许多讨论将明智地侧重于我们如何利用公共资源为国内减缓和适应气候变化的活动提供资金，并且（对于有能力这样做的国家）协助其他国家应对气候变化。我同意，我们大家都必须做得更多，而美国正在加大努力。拜登总统已经宣布，到2024年我们将把为发展中国家提供的国际气候融资翻两番，达到110亿美元以上。
今天上午，作为我们持续努力的一部分，我很高兴与英国一起宣布美国也打算全力支持气候投资基金资本市场机制（Climate Investment Funds Capital Markets Mechanism）。通过创新的杠杆结构，该计划将有助于吸引大量新的民间气候融资，每年为清洁技术基金（Clean Technology Funds）的项目提供 5 亿美元，包括新的加速煤炭转型（Accelerating Coal Transition）投资项目。伙伴国家应该很快开始看到这项支持的结果。就在昨天，拜登总统宣布了一项重要的合作伙伴关系，美国、英国、德国、法国和欧盟的合作伙伴将与我们的南非同行共同努力，帮助南非制定方案，支持受影响社区，使南非以快速、公正的方式过渡至一个清洁和低碳的未来。
今天下午晚些时候，我将专门讨论我们正在采取哪些措施帮助新兴和发展中经济体筹集气候资金，包括我们与多边开发银行和机构的接触。我希望各位能够与会，我们将了解到更多信息。
这些项目令人振奋。但是，尽管我们各国的公共部门做出了巨大努力，与解决全球气候变化问题所需要的超过100万亿美元相比依然是相形见绌。各国政府所能动用的资金与全世界需要的资金之间存在很大的缺口，因此私营部门需要发挥更大的作用。
过去，人们在要求私营部门脱碳时给出的原因是必须把地球的健康置于企业利润之上——这一原因不再普遍适用。今天，许多可再生能源比碳基燃料更便宜，并且长期运营成本更低。其他绿色技术的成本曲线继续大幅下降。在许多情况下，有利于环境保护的做法也是最具经济效益的做法。
私营部门已为提供资金做好准备，这将有助于我们避免最严峻的气候变化影响。这次与会的企业主管们管理着以万亿计的资产，他们在这里展示了企业的承诺。总共管理着近100 万亿美元资产的金融机构已在格拉斯哥净零金融联盟（GFANZ）的旗下联合起来。如果上述宏伟计划得以实施，这些投资组合到2050年将实现碳中和，并到2030年显著减少排放。
然而问题依然存在：将有足够多的投资机会得以实现来吸收所有这些资本吗？这种转向能以多快的速度发生？有关机构如何能以透明的方式报告他们的承诺以使我们能够就转型计划相互问责？
为确保对于这些问题的回答让我们走在通向净零的轨道上，各国政府能够采取一系列举措。首先，我们肩负着一项至关重要的责任，以确保金融体系对于与气候相关的种种风险的抗御力。正因为如此，拜登总统于五月发布了《关于与气候有关的金融风险的行政命令》（Executive Order on Climate-related Financial Risks）。为响应这项指令，由我担任主席的金融稳定监督委员会（Financial Stability Oversight Council）上个月就这些风险以及美国监管机构在应对风险中的作用发布了一份报告。
其中包括采取行动强化与气候有关的数据和披露，以改善对于投资者、市场参与者和监管人士的信息公开。这份报告的各项建议代表着向增强美国金融体系对气候变化威胁的抗御力迈出了显著的、至关重要的一步。我们正在同金融稳定委员会（Financial Stability Board）及其他方面的合作伙伴共同努力，在全球范围内支持类似的努力。
其次，我们必须增强我们的基础设施项目的透明度和气候抗御力。私营部门投资者经常注意到评估风险的数据不足、项目初期的风险调整后收益不高以及缺乏银行可担保的项目等种种挑战。因此，我们大力支持实施《20国集团优质基建投资原则》（G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment）。
这些识别风险的努力必须与帮助识别投资于将推动我们走向脱碳的公司和技术的机会相辅相成。因此，我们已在国内采取了一系列行动为私营资本支持我们自己向绿色经济转型扫清道路。
这包括阐明一条前进的途径，让广大的大片公共水域可用于租赁，以便到2030年建设30千兆瓦海上风能。我认为，这向寻求部署气候相关资本的投资者发出了一个强有力的政策支持的信号。
当我们在格拉斯哥集会的时候，一个大规模的基础设施法案正在经由美国国会审议。它包括足够的资金用于在美国各地安装近50万个电动车充电站，而这将加速电动汽车的普及。拜登总统还提出了一系列税额抵免方案，我们期待将会鼓励具有高电压容量的输电线以及可再生能源发电能力的建设。我们预期它们将立刻调动数百亿美元的私人资本。
如果所有国家都来到格拉斯哥准备好尽自己的一份力，第26届联合国气候变化大会就可以成为一个推动全世界在这个决定性十年走上正轨的转折点。我们还有很多工作要做，但我致力于这项使命，而且我知道你们也是如此。

As prepared for delivery
Glasgow and COP26 is a pivotal moment at the start of this decisive decade of climate action. The climate crisis is already here.  This is not a challenge for future generations, but one we must confront today.
Rising to this challenge will require the wholesale transformation of our carbon-intensive economies.  It’s a global transition for which we have an estimated price tag: some have put the global figure between $100 and $150 trillion over the next three decades.  At the same time, addressing climate change is the greatest economic opportunity of our time.
Many of the conversations here in Glasgow will rightfully focus on the way we use our public resources to fund climate mitigation and adaptation activities domestically and – for those in a position to do so – to assist other countries in responding to climate change.  I agree we all must do more, and the United States is stepping up.   President Biden has already announced that we are quadrupling our international climate finance for developing countries by 2024 to more than $11 billion.
This morning, as part of our continued efforts, I am pleased to join the UK in announcing that the United States also intends to fully support the Climate Investment Funds Capital Markets Mechanism.  Through an innovative leveraging structure, this initiative will help attract significant new private climate finance and provide $500 million per year for the Clean Technology Funds’ programming, including the new Accelerating Coal Transition investment program.  Partner countries should begin to quickly see the results of this support. Just yesterday President Biden announced an important partnership that the United States, UK, German, French and EU partners have developed with our South African counterparts to help South Africa design an expedited just transition to a clean and low-carbon future that supports affected communities.
And later this afternoon I will be speaking specifically on what we are doing to mobilize climate finance to emerging and developing economies, including our engagement with the multilateral development banks and institutions.  I hope you will join me to hear more.
These programs are exciting.  But as big as the public sector effort is across all our countries, the $100-trillion plus price tag to address climate change globally is far bigger.  The gap between what governments have and what the world needs is large, and the private sector needs to play a bigger role.
The old notions of why the private sector should decarbonize – because planet must be put before profit – are no longer universally true.  Many renewables are now cheaper than carbon-based fuel alternatives and have lower long-term operating costs.  Other green technologies have cost curves that continue to plunge.  In many cases, it is simply cost effective to go green.
The private sector is ready to supply the financing to set us on a course to avoid the worst effects of climate change.  CEOs representing trillions in assets are here to show their commitment.  Financial institutions with collective assets under management of nearly $100 trillion have come together under The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, or GFANZ.  If these ambitions are realized, those portfolios will be carbon-neutral by 2050 and significantly reduce emissions by 2030.
Questions remain, however: Will enough investment opportunities materialize to absorb all this capital?  How quickly can this reorientation occur?  And how can institutions transparently report on their commitments so we can hold each other to account on transition plans?
There are a number of actions governments can take to make sure the answers to these questions keep us on a path to net-zero.  First, we have an essential responsibility to ensure the resiliency of the financial system to climate-related risks.  That is why in May, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Climate-related Financial Risks.  In response to that Order, the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which I Chair, produced a report last month on these risks and U.S. regulators’ role in addressing them.
This includes actions to enhance climate-related data and disclosures to improve the information available to investors, market participants, and regulators.  The report’s recommendations represent a significant and vital step towards making the U.S. financial system more resilient to the threat of climate change.  We’re working with our partners at the Financial Stability Board and elsewhere to support similar efforts on a global scale.
Next, we need to enhance the transparency and climate-resiliency of our infrastructure projects. Private sector investors frequently note the challenges of inadequate data to assess risk, insufficient risk-adjusted returns in the initial project phase, and a lack of bankable projects.  That is why we strongly support efforts to operationalize the G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment.
These efforts to identify risks must be complemented by measures to help identify opportunities to invest in the firms and technologies that will move us towards decarbonization.  And so we have taken a number of actions domestically to clear the way for private capital to support our own transition to a green economy.
This includes outlining a path forward to make vast swaths of public waters available for leasing to build 30 gigawatts of offshore wind-power by 2030.  That, I think, sends, a strong signal of policy support to investors looking to deploy climate-aligned capital.
As we meet here in Glasgow, a large infrastructure bill is moving through the United States Congress.  It includes enough funding to dot the American landscape with almost 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations, which will accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles.  President Biden has also proposed a number of tax credits that we expect will incentivize the buildout of high-voltage capacity power lines and renewable energy generation capacity.  We anticipate that they will mobilize tens of billions of dollars in private capital right away.
If all countries come to Glasgow prepared to do their part, COP26 can be a turning point that sets the world on the right course for this decisive decade.  We still have a lot of work to do, but I am committed to the task and I know you are as well.
 
####