FILE PHOTO: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen attends a news conference with Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe at Government buildings in Dublin, Ireland, November 1, 2021. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
November 2, 2021
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will urge financial institutions to adopt a “greater sense of urgency” about investing in net-zero economy in meetings with the head of Bank of America and other finance CEOs on Tuesday, Treasury officials said.
John Morton, a former private equity adviser and Treasury’s first climate counselor, told reporters that Yellen would explain new U.S. government policies aimed at moving toward a clean energy economy, and try to better understand what steps were needed to accelerate work by the private sector.
“The Secretary will both applaud commitments that have been made and encourage a greater sense of urgency,” Morton told reporters ahead of the meetings at the United Nations Conference on Climate (COP26).
He said mobilizing private sector capital was imperative to fund an estimated gap of $2 to $3 trillion annually to achieve a global net-zero economy and augments billions pledged by governments.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
