Washington Post (December 30)
ESG investing has become a political hot potato in the U.S. New York is considering a motion to shift from BlackRock, which “oversees $42.3 billion in index funds for city pensions” to other asset managers with a more proactive stance on ESG. Ironically, “BlackRock and its leader Larry Fink leaned into ESG during a different political moment. But that changed after Texas passed a law blacklisting BlackRock for its fossil fuel ‘boycott.’”
Tags: $42.3 billion, Asset managers, Blacklisting, BlackRock, Boycott, City pensions, ESG investing, Fink, Fossil fuel, Hot potato, Index funds, New York, Political, Texas, U.S.
Reuters (December 26)
“Solar, wind power and batteries are set to make life a misery for the liquefied natural gas market. Some fossil fuel executives already think the push by incumbents like Exxon Mobil, Shell, and Woodside Energy to hike global production by some 50% by 2030, per the International Energy Agency, is creating a bubble. But renewable energy’s advantages will make the pop even worse.”
Tags: 2030, Batteries, Bubble, Exxon Mobil, Fossil fuel, Global production, IEA, LNG, Pop, Renewable energy, Shell, Solar, Wind power
Bloomberg (April 5)
“The plunge in oil prices over the past two days following the twin shocks of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the surprise boost in production from OPEC+ has altered the global energy landscape with stunning speed.” The market is frantically “tossing aside expectations for 2025” as Brent crude “tumbled 13% through Thursday and Friday to just over $66 a barrel, casting new doubts on Trump’s quest to aggressively boost US fossil fuel output and achieve ‘energy dominance.’”
Tags: $66, 2025, Altered, Brent, Doubts, Energy landscape, Expectations, Fossil fuel, Market, Oil prices, OPEC, Output, Plunge, Production, Stunning, Surprise, Trump’s tariffs, Tumbled, Twin shocks, U.S.
Institutional Investor (July 7)
“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.”
Tags: Alternative asset managers, Big alts, Clean-energy movement, ESG ratings, Fossil fuel, Investors, Low-carbon era, Money, Polluters, Profits, Transition, Unlikely leaders, Willingness
Bloomberg (May 31)
“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.”
Tags: Capacity factor, Dependent, Energy, Fossil fuel, Japan, Kairyu, Kuroshio current, Ocean, Power-hungry, Prototype, Renewable, Solar, Steady, Tested, Wind
Institutional Investor (March 25)
“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.”
Tags: Accountable, Activist, Asset managers, Canadian Pacific, Changing climate, Deere, Divesting, Dwindling supply, Engine No 1, Ford, Fossil fuel, GM, Investors, Natural resources, Net zero, Portfolio
CNBC (October 28)
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.”
Tags: Activist, Big oil, Breakup, Business model, Clean energy, Dan Loeb, Fossil fuel, Gas, Legacy, Oil, Renewable energy, Royal Dutch Shell, Transition
Financial Times (May 28)
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.”
Tags: Activists, AGM, Bunker mentality, Capital, Directors, Economics, Engine No 1, Ethics, ExxonMobil, Fossil fuel, Hedge-fund, Investor, Portfolios, Revenues, Shareholders, Transition, Wake-up
Institutional Investor (March 1)
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.”
Tags: Coal, Divestment, Fiduciary duty, Fossil fuel, Gas, New York, Oil, Pension fund, Retirement
Washington Post (August 20)
“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.”
Tags: Air pollution, Climate change, CO2, Emissions, Fossil fuel, Fukushima, Global warming, Nuclear power, Renewables, Safety
