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Institutional Investor (July 7)

2023/ 07/ 08 by jd in Global News

“Large alternative asset managers… have emerged as unlikely leaders of the clean-energy movement. The big alts firms have convinced investors that the transition to a low-carbon era depends on a willingness to plow money into the fossil-fuel companies with some of the worst ESG ratings — and then use part of the profits to transform those polluters into founts of green energy.”

 

Bloomberg (May 31)

2022/ 06/ 01 by jd in Global News

“Power-hungry, fossil-fuel dependent Japan has successfully tested a system that could provide a constant, steady form of renewable energy, regardless of the wind or the sun.” The Kairyu prototype is designed to harness the Kuroshio current. “The advantage of ocean currents is their stability. They flow with little fluctuation in speed and direction, giving them a capacity factor…of 50-70%, compared with around 29% for onshore wind and 15% for solar.”

 

Institutional Investor (March 25)

2022/ 03/ 26 by jd in Global News

“Activist approaches may gain ground as investors get pragmatic about fossil fuel companies. Asset managers like Engine No. 1 argue that holding companies accountable for net-zero goals is a better route to change than divesting.” Its new ETF will target companies with “plans and products in place to handle the changing climate and the dwindling supply of natural resources. This also means that the portfolio will end up invested in some of the most polluting companies, including General Motors, Ford, Canadian Pacific Railway, and Deere.”

 

CNBC (October 28)

2021/ 10/ 30 by jd in Global News

In what may prove a seminal for Big Oil, activist Dan Loeb is “calling for the breakup of Royal Dutch Shell into a legacy oil and gas company and separate business for renewable energy.” The activists battle with Shell lies “at the heart of how an energy giant of the future shapes its business model during the energy transition and balances higher return fossil fuel projects with clean energy investment.”

 

Financial Times (May 28)

2021/ 05/ 30 by jd in Global News

ExxonMobil’s annual general meeting should be “a wake-up call for other executives with a bunker mentality.” Engine No 1, an obscure hedge fund, got shareholders to elect two directors by focusing on economics, not ethics, arguing that “Exxon has been so slow to recognize the need for a transition away from fossil fuel that its revenues will crumble, destroying investor capital.” Today’s activists “are not just trying to save the world; they are also trying to save their own portfolios in a world where regulators are enforcing green standards.”

 

Institutional Investor (March 1)

2018/ 03/ 04 by jd in Global News

New York City “is aiming for full divestment of coal, oil, and gas from its $189 billion retirement system–but could get sued in the process” if such a move is deemed contrary to fiduciary duty. If they successfully divest the roughly $5 billion in assets linked to fossil fuel, however, “New York’s pension funds would be the first major U.S. retirement system to rid itself of fossil fuels.”

 

Washington Post (August 20)

2015/ 08/ 21 by jd in Global News

“If you care about climate change or air pollution, you cannot casually write off nuclear power, which produces virtually no carbon dioxide emissions while generating a tremendous amount of reliable power.” Renewables simply can’t fill the gap quickly enough. Without nuclear, burning additional fossil fuel is the alternative. “No one concerned about climate change should be willing to take it off the table…. The right response to Fukushima is to make sure reactors meet high safety standards, not to make the fight against global warming much harder.”

 

Wall Street Journal (October 30)

2013/ 10/ 30 by jd in Global News

Al Gore warns a carbon asset bubble “is still growing because most market participants are mistakenly treating carbon risk as an uncertainty, and are thus failing to incorporate it in investment analyses. By overlooking a known material-risk factor, investors are exposing their portfolios to an externality that should be integrated into the capital allocation process.” If we are to avoid catastrophic levels of global warming, many fossil fuel reserves will ultimately end up as stranded carbon assets. “The transition to a low carbon future will revolutionize the global economy and present significant opportunities for superior investment returns. However, investors must also acknowledge that carbon risk is real and growing. Inaction is no longer prudent.”

 

Institutional Investor (August Issue)

2013/ 08/ 17 by jd in Global News

“Investors confront the risk of a carbon bubble fueled by stranded oil and gas assets” should major governments decide to impose strict carbon legislation to combat climate change. One recent report asserts that “to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius between now and 2050, only 20 percent of the world’s fossil fuel reserves can be extracted and burned.”

 

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