FINANCIERS TELL GOVERNMENTS TO ‘GET REAL’ ON RENEWABLE ENERGY

Financiers tell Governments to ‘Get Real’ on Renewable Energy

(Reissued as received.)

BONN, 2 June (UNEP) -- A new study released today shows a $1.9 trillion potential for renewable energy markets in the next 15 years, but only if "real concerns" by the financial sector are addressed.

The study was released here at the Bonn Conference for Renewable Energies as part of the Sustainable Energy Finance Event, the largest gathering of leaders in the sustainable energy finance sector.

"CEO Brief:  Renewable Energy", the third report by the Climate Change Working Group of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Finance Initiative, presents the business case for renewable energy, calling for more leadership from policy makers and action by financial institutions.

"The world needs more energy, but conventional sources are unsustainable and finite", says Thomas Loster, Head of Weather/Climate Risks Research at the Munich Reinsurance Company and Chair of UNEP Finance Initiative’s Climate Change Working Group.  The most important thing that policy makers can do, he says, is to create confidence in the long-term future of the renewable energy market by policies that make "the deal on the table" financially attractive.

One of the study’s major recommendations is for governments to create "tough targets and 15-year schedules for the production of renewable energy".

"CEO Brief:  Renewable Energy" details several important case studies highlighting both the opportunities and challenges in renewable energy finance, and represents the work of key financial institutions behind the briefing -- ANZ, Aviva, Citigroup, Dresdner Bank, Garant, HypoVereinsbank, and Munich Re.

Calling for a "better deal" for renewable energy, UNEP’s Executive Director Klaus Toepfer says "it’s time to get down to business".

Affordable finance will be needed to implement the International Action Plan being developed at the Bonn Conference, he says, while agreeing with financiers that governments need to "get real" with the policies to make that happen.

"Sustainable development needs sustainable energy, but sustainable energy needs investment", Mr. Toepfer says, encouraging the 275 people attending the Sustainable Energy Finance Event at the Bonn Conference to develop new products for the rapidly evolving renewable energy sector.

For more information, please contact:  Robert Bisset, UN Environment Programme Press Officer in Bonn, tel.:  +33-6-2272-5842, e-mail:  rbisset@unep.fr; Jim Sniffen, UN Environment Programme Information Officer in New York,

tel.:  +1-212-963-8094/8210.

The report can be downloaded from www.uneptie.org/energy/media.htm

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