Generating the funds needed to help vulnerable nations cut their greenhouse gas emissions and deal with the effects of climate change is a prime money-making opportunity for the UK's financial institutions, the energy and climate change secretary has said.
Ed Davey, speaking to journalists at the United Nations climate change talks on Friday as the fortnight-long conference in Warsaw drew to a close, said the expertise of UK-based financiers would be essential to raising funds from the private sector to divert towards developing nations.
Rich countries have agreed that poor nations should receive $100bn a year by 2020, to help move to a greener economy and to protect infrastructure against extreme weather. Although a proportion of this will come from taxpayers in rich countries, the public sector funding will be used to leverage private investment.
"There is a huge appetite within the City of London and investor institutions for this," said Davey. "Lots of financial institutions are among the most progressive on climate change. Some insurance companies are the most progressive."
He added: "I have been really impressed by the level of interest and engagement from very large scale financial institutions, in London and elsewhere."
London already has a climate finance industry, with expertise in finance, law and accounting, and some of these firms are looking to broader investment opportunities as the carbon trading market in the EU has shrunk.
Davey was also notably enthusiastic about opportunities to work with China. "I asked minister Xie [who leads the Chinese delegation in Warsaw] about the Chinese government's commitment to an 'ecological civilisation'. He was lyrical about how they are seeing this in a holistic way, with politics, economics, societal programmes, and cultural programmes … China is racing ahead."
He said the Chinese government was committed to taking action on greenhouse gas emissions and the environment.
He added: "It was also very interesting [to see] the warmth they have for Britain, and the EU. They see Britain and the EU as leading the way, they see us as partners from whom they have learnt, whom they have copied."
The coalition has been keen to court the Chinese government, which is seen as a key market and source of investment for the UK. David Cameron is shortly to make a major visit to China, building on the visit made by the chancellor George Osborne and mayor of London Boris Johnson in October.
China now has an interest in the UK's low-carbon economy, through an investment in Hinkley Point C, the first new nuclear reactor scheduled to be built in the UK for nearly two decades. China National Nuclear Corporation and China General Nuclear Power Corporation will be minority shareholders along with French state-backed utility EDF Energy.