Mobilizing the market: The barriers to financing a more scalable climate response

Building a more sustainable and resilient American economy will cost trillions of dollars. Despite bold pledges around climate investment and the acknowledged need to help more people and places, U.S. public policy is not doing enough to unleash private investment to advance critical environmental and social goals. National, state, and local stakeholders must realistically confront what’s holding back climate investment at the speed and scale the moment demands.

On September 18, the Brookings Initiative on Climate Research and Action hosted a public event to explore the challenges and opportunities related to financing a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable country. Brookings experts briefly discussed new research findings released the prior week. Following a keynote from Ethan Zindler, the U.S. Treasury Department’s climate counselor, a panel of national climate journalists dove deeper into the challenges and opportunities to address climate financing gaps.