In 2021, a number briefly brought the energy transition into sharp focus.
$300 trillion.
The figure, associated with work published around that time by Baringa, captured the estimated scale of global infrastructure investment required by mid-century to align energy systems with climate goals. It was large enough to alarm and large enough to reframe the transition as an investment challenge.
One might see 2021 as the year climate risk crossed an institutional threshold: it moved from the margins of ESG disclosure into the machinery of capital allocation itself.
2021: what did finance learn to see?
What mattered most was not the number, but what followed.
In 2021, Baringa’s climate-scenario analysis was integrated into BlackRock’s Aladdin, the portfolio and risk-management system used by institutions overseeing a significant share of global financial assets.
This addressed a long-standing blind spot.
