Climate change brings business opportunities of over USD 500 billion
On 2 June 2016, an important event was held in Tel Aviv, Israel, focusing on new market opportunities for the Mediterranean region deriving from the Paris Agreement. Casper Van der Tak, ClimaSouth project’s mitigation and climate finance expert, declared that “new market opportunities in adaptation and mitigation in non-Annex 1 countries are worth more than 500 billion USD per year, a conservative estimate based only on the most significant market opportunities.” The estimates were based on the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), submitted by countries prior to the Paris negotiations.
Climate finance opportunities for Israel were presented, focusing on how to overcome outstanding barriers in the development of new clean technologies. Some innovative and advanced Israeli technologies are particularly relevant to climate change issues, for example the automated cleaning of solar panels and the production of home biogas.
Israeli entrepreneurs have an interest in exporting their technology and know-how so advising on how climate finance could support this process is important. The ClimaSouth project supports the replication of successful approaches within the Mediterranean region and is currently preparing technical reports to assist government decision-making in the development of clean tech solutions. According to Casper Van der Tak, many Israeli clean tech solutions could be highly relevant for other countries coping with climate change issues, particularly in the areas of water saving, water management, renewable energy and energy efficiency.