‘Icebreaker’: Analysts to advise on marrying economic recovery with net zero transition

A new initiative launched this week it so analyse economic and environmental trends in the wake of Covid-19, gathering data and insights to help investors and policymakers navigate both the economic recovery and the net zero transition. Named Project Cygnus, the initiative is led by Icebreaker One, a UK-based non-profit that connects private and public sector leaders working to tackle the economic challenges created by the climate crisis.

Taking place throughout the rest of 2020, the first phase of the project will see Icebreaker One bring together experts from the Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence at the University of Edinburgh, the University College Dublin (UCD), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Funded with €1m from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s Climate-KIC initiative, the project will use its analysis of economic and environmental trends to develop strategies and guidance for investors and policymakers, the group said.

Analysts will work to develop datasets, policy recommendations, and economic modelling that can be used to guide both the net zero transition and the economic recovery from Covid-19 crisis, Icebreaker One said. The resulting data could be used to guide investment decisions across shipping, transport, energy, agriculture, and the built environment, it added.

Phase two of the initiative will then use the research to develop practical tools to help investors and policy-makers address the challenges of accelerating the economic recovery while also transitioning towards net zero emissions, Icebreaker One added.

“The project Cygnus proposal builds on emergent work to catalyse green regeneration and resilience – not only with the aim to ‘bounce back’ from the crisis, but especially by using this opportunity to unlock insights, analysis, financial products and services that will facilitate joined-up thinking and embrace systems-level complexity,” said Julie Calkins, head of Risk Information for Climate Adaptation at EIT Climate-KIC.

Source: Business Green