Drastic measures needed to hit carbon reduction targets

We need the equivalent of a covid crisis every year between now and 2050 if we are to reach the carbon reduction target according to Olivier Elamine, CEO of Alstria Office REIT.

Elamine told Real Asset Insight’s Richard Betts that the level of carbon reduction occurring at present is nowhere near enough to hit the required net zero target and that drastic measures are needed to achieve the levels achieved unintentionally in 2020 as a by-product of the covid lockdowns and travel restrictions.

“If there is no government action, I am very pessimistic that we are going to get anywhere and currently there is no government action,” he said.

He said that a carbon tax is needed and “of a magnitude sufficient to move the needle”.

The tax that will be introduced this year in Germany is a levy of €25 per tonne of carbon. “At the level of Alstria this is €15,000 per year which is completely painless, it needs to be substantially higher.”

Click on the video above to watch the full interview or listen to the podcast below.