Economic Climate Risk
Conoco Philips to use giant chillers to refreeze the ground that climate change is thawing in order to drill for more oil
ConocoPhillips, has proposed a large drilling project in northern Alaska, where climate change is causing the permafrost to melt. The company is planning to use chillers called thermosyphons to prevent the ground from thawing underneath key infrastructure, according to an environmental impact statement published last Friday. Melting permafrost could damage ConocoPhillips’ infrastructure, the Bureau of […]
BlackRock Votes Against Volvo Chief on Lack of Climate Risk Disclosure
BlackRock voted last week to oust the chief of Swedish manufacturing giant AB Volvo, citing his role in the company’s perceived failure to adequately disclose its climate risks. The world’s largest asset manager, which promised at the start of the year to make sustainability a cornerstone of all investment activity, said that it […]
How to Realign Utility Profit Incentives to Support Decarbonization
To achieve our climate goals, we’ll need to clean up the power grid while also shifting whole sectors of the economy from dirty fuels to electricity. That two-pronged approach is central to every serious study of decarbonization. A starting place is utilities. To decarbonize, policymakers will need to fundamentally change how utilities make money. Today, […]
COVID-19 Short-term Probabilities and Long-Term Possibilities
Short-Term Probabilities Now through the end of March is a critical time for the U.S. Currently we are on the trajectory of Italy, the country worst hit by the virus. Given that they are ahead of us with their timeline, it is this week that we will see if the U.S. will continue down […]
End of 2019 IMF Report – Climate and Financial Risk
Climate change is already a reality. Ever more ferocious cyclones and extended droughts lead to the destruction of infrastructure and the disruption of livelihoods, and contribute to mass migration. Actions to combat rising temperatures, inadequate though they are, have the potential to drive dislocation in the business world as fossil fuel giants awaken to the […]
Bank Regulators Present a Dire Warning of Financial Risks from Climate Change
Home values could fall significantly. Banks could stop lending to flood-prone communities. Towns could lose the tax money they need to build sea walls and other protections. These are a few of the warnings published by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco regarding the financial risks of climate change. The collection of 18 papers by […]
Central Banks Must Address the Climate Crisis
Read the entire article at The Financial Times. Climate change is a financial problem. Insurers stand to lose billions from wildfires raging in California. Banks will suffer as mortgages in big port cities such as London and New York end up under water. Carbon taxes and renewable energy could make oil and gas assets worthless. […]
Governor of the Bank of England Issues Climate Change Warning
The global financial system faces an existential threat from climate change and must take urgent steps to reform, the governors of the Bank of England and France’s central bank warned. Mark Carney, the Bank’s governor, and François Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of the Banque de France, said financial regulators, banks and insurers around the world had to […]
UK’s Largest Money Manager Issues Climate Catastrophe Warning
The world is facing a climate catastrophe and businesses around the world must address it urgently or face the ultimate sanction for a public company, shareholders who refuse to back them any more. That is not a message from an environmental action group but from the largest money manager in the UK, Legal & General Investment […]
Norway’s Giant Oil Fund Diverts Billions into Renewables
Even nations that built their fortunes on fossil fuels are seeing the future is green. Norway’s $1Tn oil fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, is to plunge billions of dollars into wind and solar power projects. The decision follows Saudi Arabia’s oil fund selling off its last oil and gas assets. Read the entire […]
