Energy and finance sector leaders have highlighted the growing opportunities for sovereign wealth funds, development banks and pension funds to invest in the new energy industry, especially in developing economies.

Participating in a roundtable discussion at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, they underlined the importance of encouraging greater private sector investment in renewable energy and low-carbon, climate friendly projects as a tactic to mitigate climate change and diversify the global energy mix.

The discussion was hosted by Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE special envoy for energy and climate change and CEO of Masdar, and Rt Hon Gregory Barker MP, UK energy and climate change minister. “This is an important agenda. Not just for the environment but for business,” said Barker. “The opportunities for the global, low-carbon economy are huge and growing at an exponential rate. Clean energy and a range of resource efficient projects can expect growing interest in attracting investment as new financial participants crowd into this fast developing market,” he said. “The meeting helped to lay a foundation to better identify concrete areas of opportunity for investment in developing economies and ideas on how to scale up finance for climate solutions,” added Barker. “This joint dialogue between the private and public sectors is absolutely vital and the UK and the UAE are working together to drive this agenda forward. I look forward to continuing this collaboration.” A number of ideas emerged, including contract structures for power pricing, possible dimensions for the Basel rules on finance, and ways in which finance is securitised. Participants agreed to take the discussion forward and establish a working group to explore the suggested proposals more deeply.