Almost $3,000bn in additional investment would be needed by 2020 to meet targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions set out in European and pending US legislation, according to a report from Deutsche Asset Management.

Meeting those targets would require emissions to be reduced by 5-7 gigatonnes – equivalent to the current annual emissions of the US, Deutsche concludes in a “climate tracker” report prepared together with Columbia University's Climate Center, which looks at how business can be encouraged to invest in low-carbon technology.

Even if current and proposed policies round the world were to have the maximum possible impact, emissions in 2020 would still exceed the amount needed to limit the average global temperature increase to 2oC, the report says.