China, India best bets for green investors: Morgan Stanley

new york — Emerging markets including China and India could be the best bets for investors hoping to fight climate change and boost returns, according to a report Thursday.

If the planet heats up by 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit), well above the 2-degree threshold set by the Paris Accord, investors may face $7 trillion in global losses. But that could be mitigated by investments aimed at reducing and removing carbon from the atmosphere, according to the report by Morgan Stanley’s Institute for Sustainable Investing and The Economist Intelligence Unit. Emerging economies from China to Cuba to Nigeria present some of the biggest opportunities for investors as they become centers

Countries are in different stages of development in terms of their energy and power infrastructure, so their needs may be very different Hilary Irby, Co-head of the global sustainable finance group at Morgan Stanley

of clean energy innovation. These regions are likely to be significantly affected by a warming planet and have increasingly techsavvy populations, according to the report. “Countries are in different stages of development in terms of their energy and power infrastructure, so their needs may be very different,” Hilary Irby, co-head of the global sustainable finance group at Morgan Stanley, said in an interview. “In some cases, you have countries that may be able to skip traditional infrastructure.” Nigeria, for example, has a rapidly developing solar industry, and expects energy consumption to grow almost 14 per cent by 2020. And Cuba, where the energy market is expected to see double-digit growth over the next five years.