It will cost more than the gross domestic product of the entire world to rewire the global economy to run on clean energy.
Policy makers and campaigners focused on ginning up the estimated $100 trillion needed over the next three decades know that governments alone cannot foot this bill: Wall Street must get on board with the energy transition. The odds of decarbonizing the world depend to a significant extent on bankers being swayed to direct their dollars away from fossil fuels and toward renewables.
Whether carrots or sticks, the options being considered are numerous, according to interviews with current and former bankers, nonprofits and academics. They include everything from the introduction of carbon pricing to adjusting capital rules and encouraging financing partnerships between public and private money. And the urgency of the conversation is only increasing…