If there were to be further green stimulus measures in the EU, renewables is the forgotten area which could have a major impact, Robins, who heads HSBC's Climate Change Centre, told EurActiv.
The bank updated a previous report on green stimulus on 31 March, analysing green economic recovery measures in over 30 countries. The results show that the US and China are well ahead of Europe both in terms of the size and the green dimension of their stimuli.
According to Robins, China's tradition of central planning means that it has large financial reserves and has thus been able to respond "quickly and with cash". In the US, on the other hand, President Barack Obama's administration took office knowing that it would need to bring forth a fiscal stimulus and had prepared the green element in advance, he said.
Moreover, European welfare payments are much more generous than those in the US, and these kick in when people are laid off, Robins said. "So although the stimulus hasn't been as big in Europe, the additional, the automatic stimulus, means that probably the two measures might be equivalent," he argued.
Europe lagging behind US on renewables
Looking at what makes a stimulus package good, Robins said the research had ranked buildings efficiency and renewables in the top two. "On this scoring system, the US comes out pretty well, because it had the largest allocation to buildings and then to renewables," he stated.
In Europe, too, the biggest focus has been on buildings efficiency, Robins said. But he added that the US was really the only country to have a targeted measure to boost the renewables sector.
"One thing we have found quite surprising is how limited the stimulus to renewables has been to date," he said.
However, European countries have a different starting position, as they already have the foundations of the renewables incentives in place, unlike the US, Robins pointed out. "If there were further measures, the area that hasn't received as much attention is renewables," he concluded.
Financing China and India
Large developing countries such as China and India have taken on board the need for more sustainable economic development, Robins said. But industrialised countries will have to do more before developing countries can sign up to an emissions cap in global climate talks, he argued.
"There are two discussions going on. One on the hard negotiations: there is still real confidence that needs to be built up through real commitments, and also finance. And then on the ground, there are increasing signs of these countries realising that a low-carbon growth path is actually good for their national development trajectory," he said.
To help developing countries combat climate change, Robins said it was of utmost importance to provide loan guarantees for private investors in developing countries.
"One of the key things in Copenhagen is that the negotiators are focusing very much on how much, which is important. But I suppose from our point of view, we are looking at how much more could that money then leverage," Robins concluded.
