How much do carbon emissions cost?

Global investors called for strong action to control global warming at the International Investor Forum on Climate Change in New York this week. British economist Lord Nicholas Stern asserted that unmitigated climate change poses a threat to the world economy. Said Stern, "But building a low carbon economy creates opportunity for investment in new technologies that promise to transform our society in the same way as the introduction of electricity or railways did in the past."

A similar theme was echoed at the recent AlwaysOn GoingGreen West conference in San Francisco. Quantifying the cost of a carbon emission seems the most urgent and logic

al step. Once carbon emissions has a cost associated with it (as in the UK), legislature, tar

gets, incentives and goals are much more easily set. From an investor point of view, where there is cost, there is a flow of capital and opportunity.

For example, India's emissions reduction plan calls for 20 gigawatts of electricity to be derived from solar by 2020. As a result, global investors are looking at the opportunity so

lar offers.

Most importantly, by not taking action on climate change and/or investing in sustainable sources of energy, we run the risk of leaving future generations with fewer, maybe none, options for clean air, water and food.