Environment

COP29 steals defeat from jaws of abject failure

25 Nov 2024

The $300 bln-a-year financing target for poorer states adopted at the UN climate shindig is woefully inadequate. It also assumes the West will provide part of the cash from sources it's leery of, like carbon taxes. The saving grace is that diplomacy lives to fight another day.

Shell’s legal win flags need for new green metrics

12 Nov 2024

A Dutch court has nixed a 2021 ruling forcing the $204 bln oil major to cut emissions by 45% by 2030. Such metrics had already been undermined by Big Oil asset sales, which don’t stop climate change. Drillers’ spending on low-carbon energy is a better gauge of green credentials.

COP29 will highlight bifurcated energy transitions

12 Nov 2024

Donald Trump’s election victory casts a pall over the UN climate confab in Baku. It will also make raising $1 trln a year from rich states to decarbonise the developing world even harder. But his return will also hasten a shift East and South in the fight against global warming.

Hurricane Milton blows utilities into eye of storm

10 Oct 2024

The industry’s stocks have led the market thanks to prospects for AI-related electricity usage and lower interest rates. Such exuberance misses the inconvenient truth about mounting climate-related costs. Florida’s $170 bln NextEra epitomizes the tricky investment theses.

Deforestation U-turn takes EU down a risky road

3 Oct 2024

Brussels has proposed a 12-month delay to a law banning imports linked to tree-felling. It had looked like the so-called EUDR would come in on time, with measures to soothe irked trading partners. The risk now is that it gets defanged – and other EU climate goals follow suit.

EU deforestation ban creates a hazy trade future

23 Sep 2024

The European Union wants to ban agricultural imports from deforested land. The rules have laudable aims but will impact $400 bln worth of goods. Developing nations are already exporting elsewhere. To avoid losing vital supplies, Brussels can compensate farmers or lower standards.

Autos take driver’s seat in China’s new economy

19 Sep 2024

Beijing wants carmakers to reserve overseas factories for final assembly of vehicles. It will slow tech transfers like those that helped the People's Republic get ahead in the industry. Slowing GDP growth is making China protective of companies as they expand overseas.

Joe Biden’s climate law is too valuable to repeal

18 Sep 2024

The outgoing president’s Inflation Reduction Act has spurred $500 bln in green investments in two years. Regardless of who replaces him, politicians, companies and utilities will want to protect lucrative tax credits. A Donald Trump victory might bend the law, but not break it.

Why Kamala Harris could be good for the planet

3 Sep 2024

The American vice president is being coy about how she will fight climate change if she beats Donald Trump to the White House. But Harris would have scope to step up action both at home and abroad – especially if the Democrats also do well in November’s congressional elections.

Sunbird momentum trade could go into reverse

22 Aug 2024

Americans moved in their millions from cold states to hot, but climate change is making that trend less durable. Florida, a $1.6 trln economy underpinned by inflows of young retirees, is one state that could start feeling the heat, in a bad way.

China’s ammo export curb is more a green defence

19 Aug 2024

Beijing is restricting overseas sales of antimony, a metalloid it dominates production of that's also a key ingredient for weapons. Realpolitik alone would explain it. But the People’s Republic also needs the supply-constrained element for its rapid production of solar panels.

Woodside’s deal poses a new green conundrum

13 Aug 2024

Months after shareholders rejected its climate transition plan, the oil driller is buying an ammonia facility in Texas for $2.4 bln to help hit its emissions reduction goals. But the tech and end-uses are questionable. The return gives investors little to cheer, too.

Rentokil flags debugged trend towards mega buyouts

22 Jul 2024

The $17 bln pest control company is being eyed by former BT CEO Philip Jansen, the Sunday Times says. More generous debt markets mean large takeovers are getting easier. But, while the returns on a Rentokil deal look juicy, shareholders may be wary of selling too cheaply.

Hurricane exposes Texan bigger-not-better ethos

11 Jul 2024

Business-friendly policies helped turn the Lone Star State into the nation’s fastest growing. Yet burgeoning suburbs also raise living costs, congestion and infrastructure strains. As Texas’ electric grid sputters, the state’s hands-off, pro-growth strategy looks less smart.

UK green fund has risky but valid investor carrots

10 Jul 2024

The new government’s ‘National Wealth Fund’ is really $9 bln of public cash with capped returns. The risk is private investors slated to provide treble that figure get too good a deal. But with the UK’s energy transition requiring $64 bln a year, a degree of largesse makes sense.

Net zero arbitrage is large, but no one-way bet

14 Jun 2024

There’s a big gap between the rich world’s ambitions to reduce carbon emissions and the ability of governments to achieve that goal. Investors can try to exploit that disconnect. However, economic, technological and geopolitical constraints can quickly change in unexpected ways.

Europe’s election eruption threatens paralysis

13 Jun 2024

Centrist and green parties saw big losses in a vote to elect the European Union’s parliament, sparking a shock snap election in France. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists explain how ensuing instability could slow the continent’s response to urgent global issues.

China can divide-and-trade a less welcoming Europe

13 Jun 2024

EU tariffs on cars are a setback for Beijing. Yet President Xi Jinping will test the bloc’s ability to form a coherent policy against the world’s second largest economy. Hungary is benefiting from rising Chinese investments and trade and will become a key battleground.

Suburban sprawl gives insurers the blues

7 Jun 2024

Losses from natural disasters are rising and have exceeded $100 bln for four years in a row. Climate change has made losses from hurricanes grow. But the bigger risk for insurers is severe storms hitting rapidly expanding cities in the sunbelt, like Dallas-Fort Worth.

Hurricanes threaten to stir perfect economic storm

1 May 2024

Warmer oceans portend an unusually fierce 2024 season in the Atlantic, with two states already propping up their home insurance systems. The nightmare scenario is $200 bln of losses. Insolvencies would be a problem, but not as big as exorbitant premiums and lower property values.