A group of the world’s biggest asset owners are proposing a dramatic escalation of joint public-private financing ventures in a bid to help poor countries weather the climate crisis. “This is a call for action,” said Nadia Nikolova, lead portfolio manager for development finance at Allianz Global Investors, one of the founders of the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, which put forward the plan. “We need to find ways to transition these economies if we’re going to win the climate battle at all.” Combining public and private money — so-called blended finance — is a structure designed to entice more private investors to plow funds into the developing world. But the asset owner alliance says the model needs to be scaled up considerably if it’s to draw meaningful financial commitments. The International Energy Agency estimates that the developing world needs more than $1 trillion annually to support the necessary […]