Climate crisis potentially a systemic threat

[InTime News]

Climate change may not constitute a systemic threat yet, but it will “tend to become” one if no measures for transition and adaptation are taken in time, Bank of Greece (BoG) Yannis Stournaras said in an address at the Greek Engineers and Public Works Contractors Fund (TMEDE) on Tuesday.

At the 2nd TMEDE Conference on “Redefining the Future Horizons” in Athens, Stournaras said that storms like Daniel in Thessaly affect not only households and businesses, but the banking system as well through the increase of nonperforming loans.

The European South and particularly the Mediterranean basin faces a disproportionately high climate threat, as all reports show.

Stournaras also said the transition to green energy sources requires the European Union to make additional investments of 3-3.5% of GDP annually up to 2030, or 500-550 billion euros per year.

While the existing European framework has helped significantly until today, what is needed from now on is the “substantive mobilization of the private sector” to bridge the investment gap, he added.