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 (June 17)
“European central bankers’ price stability mission is on a collision course with the goal of combating climate change, unless they change their ways.” Ultimately, the ECB may have to institute a special category of green lending to solve what appears to be an irresolvable dilemma. “The transition to a lower-carbon economy may fuel inflation — but raising interest rates in response to that could hinder investment in cleaner energy. So monetary policy and efforts to save the planet risk working against each other, casting a shadow over the prevailing consumer-price-targeting philosophy of the past three decades.”
Tags: Cleaner energy, Climate change, Collision course, ECB, Europe, Green lending, Inflation, Interest, Investment, Lower-carbon economy, Monetary policy, Price stability, Transition
Wall Street Journal (December 26)
“As temperatures plunged this weekend, Americans in much of the country were told to turn down their thermostats and avoid using large appliances to prevent rolling blackouts. The cascading grid stress… was all too predictable to anyone paying attention. The interconnected U.S. grid is supposed to be a source of resilience, but the government’s force-fed green energy transition is creating systemic vulnerabilities.”
Tags: Americans, Cascading, Green energy, Grid stress, Plunged, Predictable, Resilience, Rolling blackouts, Temperatures, Transition, U.S.
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
Wall Street Journal (March 13)
“Regulators are pressuring Wall Street to do away with the London interbank offered rate by year-end. Companies are still making the switch.” The Federal Reserve is pushing the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) as a replacement, but “the U.S. is running behind the U.K. and Europe, where investment firms and companies have been faster to transition to alternative rates,” including the Sterling Overnight Index Average (Sonia).
Tags: Europe, Fed, Investment firms, LIBOR, Regulators, Replacement, SOFR, Transition, U.K., U.S., Wall Street
Financial Times (February 3)
“The pandemic’s devastating impact on Big Oil was illustrated yesterday when some of the world’s largest energy groups reported record annual losses, marking a brutal 12 months of an industry under mounting pressure to speed up a transition to cleaner fuels.”
Tags: Big oil, Brutal, Cleaner fuels, Devastating, Energy, Impact, Largest, Losses, Pandemic, Pressure, Record, Transition
The Economist (July 6)
A profound “energy transition is under way: from fossil fuels to clean energy. Of all the oil majors, Shell’s attempts to navigate it…are the most intriguing.” With a $52 billion acquisition of BG Group, Shell became “the biggest listed gas producer” while its oil reserves have dropped “lower than those of its Western peers…. Shell is bolder than its rivals in forecasting huge global demand for clean power over the next 30 years. And it is the only firm to link its executive’s pay to progress in reducing emissions across its operations.”
Tags: BG Group, Clean energy, Clean power, Energy, Executive pay, Fossil fuels, Gas, Oil majors, Reserves, Shell, Transition
Financial Times (May 5)
Brexit has “exposed the internal divisions within the established political parties and unearthed a diversity of views that is struggling to be contained inside two organisations. A more diverse political landscape would, arguably, be more representative of modern Britain. But making this transition will not be a quick process. Any break-up of the old political order is likely to be long, slow and painful.”
Tags: Break-up, Brexit, Diversity, Divisions, Exposed, Order, Parties, Political landscape, Slow, Struggling, Transition, UK
Vox (November 15)
Prime Minister Theresa May “and the EU are desperately trying to avoid a no-deal scenario. After months of stalled negotiations, the two sides finally thought they had reached a breakthrough this week that solved some of the thorniest issues of the divorce, and provided for a transition period so they could work out a future trade deal…. But the latest dramatic resignations reveal the obstacles that May faces in finalizing the withdrawal.”
Tags: Breakthrough, Desperate, EU, May, Negotiations, No-deal, Obstacles, Resignations, Trade deal, Transition, Withdrawal
