Zero: The Climate Race Did we get climate finance all wrong?
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Jan 15, 2026 Lisa Sachs, director of Columbia University's Center on Sustainable Investment, discusses the shortcomings of current climate finance strategies since the Paris Agreement. She argues that mere data disclosures and net-zero goals haven't driven necessary changes. Instead, she emphasizes the importance of market incentives and structured risk-sharing to make clean projects bankable. Sachs also highlights the investment potential in emerging markets and the need for integrated solutions, like a cross-border clean grid in Southeast Asia, to unlock funding.
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Risk Framing Didn't Create Solutions
- Mark Carney's "Tragedy of the Horizon" reframed climate as a financial risk but assumed disclosure would drive capital to solutions.
- Lisa Sachs argues that better risk data alone won't reshape the real economy or cut emissions.
Net Zero Can't Be Achieved By One Firm
- Net zero is an atmospheric target that individual corporate pledges can't achieve alone.
- Sachs says entity-level net-zero targets foster accounting tricks rather than real systemic emissions cuts.
Design Finance To De‑risk Projects
- Use financial expertise to design de-risking tools, not to substitute for market creation.
- Banks should map market, offtake, technology and political risks so public actors can share risk and unlock private capital.