COP26

Climate fight’s main event battles sophomore slump

1 Nov 2022

COP26 put climate change centre stage in 2021, but this year war and energy crises have distracted attention. In this episode of The Exchange, the United Nations’ key COP27 players Mahmoud Mohieldin and Nigel Topping tell George Hay why the event could still make a splash.

Ukraine has more pluses than minuses for climate

26 Sep 2022

The Russian invasion has prompted other countries to boost gas production and burn more coal. Climate diplomacy is on ice. But this crisis will also prompt a dash for cheaper and more secure renewable energy. That helps the fight to slow global warming, says Hugo Dixon.

Guest view: A platform for climate collaboration

14 Jul 2022

Finance ministers and central bankers face inflation and stagnating growth. The climate crisis could dwarf these hardships. If structured well, G20 Country Platforms can help to unlock private capital to meet the challenge, writes United Nations climate envoy Mark Carney.

Chancellor: Investors unprepared for carbon crunch

18 Nov 2021

Markets aren’t effectively factoring in a potential hydrocarbons scarcity. It’s not just that the world is trying to get off fossil fuels. They’re increasingly expensive to extract as supplies reach their peak. It’s another downside risk investors need to consider.

Glasgow’s carbon market overhaul is only half done

18 Nov 2021

The U.N.’s COP26 summit agreed tougher accounting standards for emissions credits, a market ex-BoE Governor Mark Carney hopes can swell to $100 bln a year. It’s a step forward, but loopholes remain. Companies that don’t like greenwashing have a strong incentive to help police it.

China’s central bank tries brighter shade of green

16 Nov 2021

A new lending programme could, by one estimate, lead to nearly $1 trln of investment in clean energy projects. It’s a bolder policy than from Western peers, and also a clever way to tackle the stagflation dilemma. Runaway stimulus remains a risk, as does misallocated capital.

Breakdown: COP’s bare minimum is still a ratchet

15 Nov 2021

Glasgow’s UN global climate shindig needed to outline a clear path to halve emissions by 2030 and secure way more cash for developing states. It managed neither. Still, the final agreement, and a joint U.S.-China pact, make it harder for companies to delay on climate change.

U.S.-China climate pledge adds psychological lift

11 Nov 2021

The world’s two biggest polluters surprised COP26 with a joint statement, albeit one with few new greenhouse-gas cuts. At least it tries to separate global warming from other diplomatic problems, and it should help others set their sights higher. Something is better than nothing.

Carmakers muddy private sector’s COP green sheen

10 Nov 2021

Volkswagen and peers have snubbed a Glasgow pledge to end petrol vehicle sales by 2040. Banks’ net-zero promises last week suggested companies might offset inadequate state action. The carmaker rebuff is a reminder that governments still have their hands very much on the wheel.

Capital Calls: Google, Twitter, Swedish grocer

10 Nov 2021

Concise views on global finance: The search giant’s defeat in appealing a $2.8 bln EU fine is tolerable if American judges don’t follow; the social media network hopes to charge hardcore U.S. users a monthly fee; ICA Gruppen’s top shareholder takes the $12 bln retailer private.

Cox: Whiff of Donald Trump redux hangs over COP26

9 Nov 2021

The former U.S. president isn’t in Glasgow, but as nations sign up to long-term green commitments many wonder if he’ll boomerang back to the White House in 2024. The hope is that things will be too far along to unwind should he return. That lends urgency to the deliberations.

The Exchange: Bank of America boss Brian Moynihan

9 Nov 2021

With a $2.8 trln balance sheet, BofA is one of the largest banks in the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero. Moynihan tells Rob Cox what this means operationally, how the bank is helping “hard to abate” firms to transition, and what it’s like to be back at conferences.

America’s swing senator can save or scorch planet

8 Nov 2021

Joe Manchin effectively controls the fate of global climate policy as a centrist Democrat in a split Senate. He rejected a clean electricity plan; green tax credits may be next. President Joe Biden’s influence over other nations rests on where the coal-state lawmaker comes down.

COP background chatter supports Greta’s bad vibes

8 Nov 2021

The young activist declared the global climate shindig in Glasgow a failure at a weekend protest. In public, financiers and policymakers are bullish about the scope of new private-sector pledges to drive decarbonisation. In private, they fret mightily about energy security.

Forget COP26. The world needs COPPER 26

5 Nov 2021

The climate shindig is all about cutting demand for fossil fuels. The required flipside is a 2020s surge in production of metals for all those extra wind turbines and electric cars. Stay tuned for a separate forum in which governments and miners thrash out how that might happen.

Coal’s end will come sooner than Glasgow suggests

5 Nov 2021

Agreements struck at the COP26 summit point to the fossil fuel being a major carbon dioxide source for 20 years or more. But even after a recent rally, the valuations of specialist miners like Peabody and Whitehaven imply the mineral will be around for nowhere near as long.

Viewsroom: Climate and tech shindig dispatches

5 Nov 2021

World and business leaders made some headway in pledges to limit planetary frying during the first week of COP26 in Glasgow, say George Hay and Rob Cox. Also, venture capitalists and startups mingled along the banks of the Tagus in Lisbon with Peter Thal Larsen and Karen Kwok.

Banks’ green push requires more stick than carrot

4 Nov 2021

Global standard-setters are mulling how to tackle climate risk. One popular idea, fiddling with regulatory risk weights to encourage greener lending, may backfire. Better to hammer slow-moving banks with extra capital requirements while pressing on with real climate stress tests.

Capital Calls: KKR, Ferrari, HelloFresh

2 Nov 2021

Concise views on global finance: The private equity company is making the most of ideal market conditions; the Italian sports car maker raises its guidance; and a positive sales update turbocharges the German meal-kit delivery firm’s share price.  

EU-U.S. green steel deal shows way for COP26

2 Nov 2021

Washington and Brussels will set a common external tariff for dirtier types of the metal. It’s similar in effect to the EU’s carbon border levy, with less of the grief. The lesson for Glasgow negotiators is that sector-based deals may be a safer bet than big multilateral ones.