California State Treasurer, John Chiang, has issued a rebuke to the Trump administration's climate change deniers and reaffirmed California's support for the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. While criticising the new US administration, Chiang praised the rise of green bonds.
'The American people can turn to a new and growing sector of the bond market to make change and counter the disastrous effects of global warming,' he said. 'We Californians stand with the scientific community and the 195 nations that have declared climate change is an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet.'
Last week, research from climate consultancy South Pole Group said, if the pledges made in Paris at COP21 to limit global warming were not turned into action, the Earth's temperature was on track to reach a 'disastrous' three degree rise by 2100.
Landmark report
Moreover, Chiang, who is a Democrat, released a report on the state of the green bonds market to identify barriers to its full development.
The report, titled 'Growing the U.S. Green Bond Market [pdf]', is the first step in Chiang's multi-stage plan to tap the potential in this eight-year-old market.
He hopes that green bonds can 'release a torrent' of new and affordable capital for the US to meet its infrastructure and climate change needs.
In the introduction to the report, Chiang said he was determined to boost green bond issuance and acceptance both in California and across the country.
'The challenge is to find a way to make the bonds equally attractive to investors and environmentalists,' he added.
Chiang now turns his attentions to autumn 2017 when he plans to host a symposium where participants will identify solutions to the issues raised in the today's report.
He said: 'Green bonds empower ordinary people to use the marketplace to serve the public good. We are creating an opportunity for Americans who care deeply about drinkable water, breathable air, and clean transportation to invest in their future.
'And Washington can't stop us,' he added.
Worldwide the price tag for the transition to renewable energy from fossil fuels is pegged at $93 trillion (€87 trillion). The estimate includes $8 trillion for the United States alone.