Agrees to Advance Global Progress on Carbon Pricing at first High-Level Assembly
The French version of the following PR is available here.
Washington, April 15, 2016 – The Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC), an initiative bringing together leaders from government, business and civil society, today called for global goals on putting a price on carbon emissions, while welcoming new high-level co-chairs at the CPLC’s first official meeting since being launched at Paris COP21 in December 2015.
The new co-chairs announced today are Ségolène Royal, Minister of Environment, Energy and Oceans of France and COP21 President, and Feike Sijbesma, CEO of the Netherlands-based nutrition and materials multinational Royal DSM.
In a communiqué released today, the CPLC expressed support for “setting global goals for coverage of emissions by meaningful carbon pricing systems – as a way to drive collective ambition for the next decade”.
“The most direct and certain path to reduce carbon emissions is to put a price on them, so that carbon pollution becomes an operating cost, and incentives are created to push forward with greener technologies and solutions,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. “The growing success and advocacy of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition signals clear momentum around the world to put a price on carbon.”
The inaugural CPLC High-Level Assembly, held in Washington alongside the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), brought together UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, World Bank Group President Kim, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, finance and environment ministers and CEOs of major multinational companies, as well as the new co-chairs.
“As the president of the COP, I encourage countries and private firms to mobilize in favor of carbon pricing,” said Minister Ségolène Royal. “This movement needs to rely on three principles: a price that is high enough to change behaviors; a price that is stable and predictable to give economic and financial actors the visibility they need; and a price that is coordinated, such that it is an instrument of cohesion, not of competition.”
In today’s communiqué the CPLC also agreed to advance global progress in designing and using carbon pricing systems, and to regularly report on progress. It called for accelerated business support for carbon pricing policies, including through use of internal carbon prices as a way to advance corporate readiness for climate change impacts.
“I am honored to co-chair this important initiative to address climate change through speeding up the transition to a low-fossil-carbon society,” said Royal DSM CEO Feike Sijbesma. “Business increasingly recognizes the positive role meaningful carbon pricing can play in accelerating low carbon technologies and generating economic opportunities whilst combatting one of mankind’s biggest threats. Like Royal DSM, more and more companies apply an internal carbon price when reviewing investment decisions. The CPLC enables the private sector to share knowledge and best practices, while offering a unique space for constructive engagement with the public sector and civil society, to demonstrate the leadership needed to create a brighter future for people today and generations to come.”
Currently about 40 countries and 23 cities, states, and provinces put a price on carbon. Together, these cover the equivalent of some 7 billion tons of carbon dioxide – a threefold increase over the past decade.
The Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) emerged from the 2014 UN Secretary General’s Climate Summit in New York, and was officially launched at COP21 in Paris. The CPLC is a voluntary initiative that brings together dozens of leaders from governments, businesses and civil society to support the expansion of carbon pricing, share experiences, and enhance global, regional, national and sub-national understanding of best practices.
Transcripts of the public remarks are available here.
Contacts:
Nicholas Keyes (202) 473-9135, nkeyes@worldbankgroup.org
Mehreen Sheikh, (202) 458-7336,msheikh1@worldbankgroup.org
Herman Betten, +31-630533801,Herman.Betten@dsm.com
