Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Saturday said that $3 trillion in new capital is required each year to combat climate change and deemed the global transition to a low-carbon economy “the single greatest opportunity of the 21st century.”
Speaking in Belém, Brazil, after meeting with G20 finance ministers to discuss economic development this week, Yellen emphasized the need for stronger climate finance policies through 2050 to address the “existential threat” to communities and economic strain posed by climate change.
“Neglecting to address climate change and the loss of nature and biodiversity is not just bad environmental policy. It is also bad economic policy,” she said.
The speech, delivered as part of an event by the Inter-American Development Bank, reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the IDB’s Amazonia Forever program on its first anniversary, a project intended to promote sustainable development in the Amazon region and defend against deforestation.
