Washington Post (July 16)
The extreme heat events “should not be viewed in isolation.” They are “virtually impossible” to explain except for human-caused climate change. “Slashing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to a greener economy at the scale and pace needed would require creativity, innovation and political courage. But the cost if we fail is far more daunting: a future in which climate disasters, and all the damage and instability that come with them, become the new normal everywhere.”
Tags: Climate change, Climate disasters, Cost, Creativity, Daunting, Extreme heat, Fail, GHG emissions, Greener economy, Innovation, Isolation, Pace, Political courage, Scale, Transitioning
Wall Street Journal (October 7)
“Natural gas stocks are alarmingly low around the world, and prices in most places have never been higher after surging to new records…. Demand has jumped as economies have bounced back from pandemic shutdowns, and the squeeze has caught traders, shipowners and energy executives off guard.” Nations that “have wound down coal-fired plants and become more dependent on gas” are particularly vulnerable and, in some cases, restarting mothballed power plants despite higher GHG emissions.
Tags: Coal, Demand, Economies, Energy, GHG emissions, Natural gas, Pandemic, Prices, Records, Shipowners, Shutdowns, Squeeze, Stocks, Surging, Traders, Vulnerable
National Geographic (June 18)
“Dangerous heatwaves are far more common than anyone realized, killing people in more than 60 different parts of the world every year.” Approximately “30 percent of the world’s population is currently exposed to potentially deadly heat for 20 days per year or more—and like a growing forest fire, climate change is spreading this extreme heat.” Barring major reductions in GHG emissions, “up to 75 percent of people could face deadly heatwaves by 2100.”
Tags: Climate change, Dangerous, Deadly, Extreme heat, Forest fire, GHG emissions, Heatwaves, Population
Institutional Investor (October 29)
“Just as information from barometers and thermometers can help us prepare for tomorrow’s weather, so corporate information on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues can help investors make better decisions and prepare for the future” by providing such information “as whether supply chain management takes account of climate risk, whether fixed assets are based in areas prone to flooding and cyclones and whether the scale of a company’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is contributing to more extreme weather events over the long term.” But the problem is “too few companies report on such ESG factors. And when they do, it is often voluntarily reported, which tends to mean different methodologies and measures too inconsistent for investors to compare efficiently.” There is an obvious solution. Global stock exchanges should “coordinate the reporting of sustainability metrics just as they do with financial metrics.”
Tags: Climate risk, ESG, Extreme weather, Fixed assets, GHG emissions, Investors, Methodologies, Stock exchanges, Supply chain management