From the words of Günther Thallinger, Chair of the NZAOA and board member at Allianz SE in his opening remarks to the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance roundtable discussion entitled Power Move: Accelerating the Just Energy Transition:

“The imperative to significantly reduce emissions of harmful greenhouse gases to ensure our planet is habitable has now been given additional impetus by geopolitical developments.

Any much-needed change must be guided by the principles of a just transition: a strategic approach that requires all actions to serve the needs of and includes, the most vulnerable groups in society.

The question remains: how do we unlock private capital to finance the transition to renewable energy?

The Alliance has worked on this and we see the importance and urgency of collaborative action by all stakeholders to bring about systemic change.

Blended finance structures that leverage public and philanthropic capital to mobilize private-sector funding play a critical role in scaling investments into Emerging and Developing Economies (EMDEs) – but not only there. It is also the wealthy nations that must accelerate innovation and the transition to renewable energy for the sake of energy security and the avoidance of rising greenhouse gases By scaling blended finance structures that leverage public capital together with the private sector we can accelerate the green transition and counter energy security and geopolitical risk…”