Environment

Bayer’s sunk boss leaves high water mark

21 Mar 2023

In one of his last acts before bowing to activist pressure, Werner Baumann is pledging the $60 bln drugs-to-seeds company will slash rice’s H2O needs by 25%. Leaving aside his legacy as the architect of the Monsanto deal, his ambition is worth emulating.

Water’s big moment risks getting lost in the weeds

20 Mar 2023

New York is hosting the first UN confab on the scarce resource since 1977. Securing supplies requires $1 trln a year. There’s no climate COP-like demand for national commitments but there is a decent investment case. Banks can get a lot of bragging rights bang for their buck too.

Fed’s reluctance to go green will cost the Earth

7 Mar 2023

Unlike the European Central Bank, the U.S. Federal Reserve doesn’t want to fight climate change. That’s an expensive mistake. Global spending to hit net-zero emissions could reach $275 trillion by 2050. The Fed’s tools could reduce that price tag and curb future inflation.

A post-Erdogan Turkey could come in from the cold

27 Feb 2023

Investors shunned the country as the president let inflation rip. He strained relations with the West by cosying up to Putin and did too little on climate change. An opposition win in coming elections, more likely after the recent earthquake, may change all that, says Hugo Dixon.

Capital Calls: World Bank, Bumble, Wood Group

23 Feb 2023

Concise views on global finance: The U.S. picks ex-Mastercard boss Ajay Banga to run the multilateral development bank; while the dating app’s shares are down, private equity owner Blackstone is still in the money; the UK oil services group has turned down three bids from Apollo.

Search for new World Bank boss flows from Barbados

20 Feb 2023

The multilateral lender needs a new president now that David Malpass is quitting early. Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s green finance strategy offers a way to channel more lending to developing countries. Though the U.S. will have the final say, a shift is overdue.

Capital Calls: Schneider’s sustainable CEO

16 Feb 2023

Concise views on global finance: Jean-Pascal Tricoire’s departure as chief executive of the French industrial software group after nearly two decades at the helm defies the trend of short-lived or underperforming corporate bosses.

The plastic waste fight is just beginning

7 Feb 2023

Where does packaging waste go? Ellen MacArthur Foundation expert Sander Defruyt tells The Exchange podcast about the challenges companies like Coca-Cola and Danone face cutting the 140 mln tonnes of plastic discarded each year. With progress stalling, global rules are afoot.

California floods underscore rising climate costs

24 Jan 2023

Catastrophic storms have devastated the Golden State’s economy and left more than $1 bln in damages. In this Exchange podcast, climatologist Adam Smith explains how global warming has made weather events more expensive, and what governments can do to protect against them.

Market’s irrational H2O aversion risks M&A drought

24 Jan 2023

Cost cuts, executive nous, and the need to invest in water security should ensure Xylem’s $7.5 bln purchase of Evoqua keeps benefits flowing to the bottom line. Yet 8% of the buyer’s value evaporated. That may prompt architects of other smart-looking deals to pull the plug.

Creative green finance can go a long way in 2023

23 Jan 2023

Rich democracies are keen to help the Global South fight climate change, in part for geopolitical reasons. Though they will struggle to write big cheques, there are ways to make a little cash go a long way, says Hugo Dixon. 2023 is a key year to drive these ideas over the line.

Investors sit on a plastic waste ticking bomb

13 Jan 2023

Four years after vowing to curb packaging, giants like PepsiCo and Mars are far from meeting their goals. Just 9% of global plastic actually gets recycled. If governments decide to firmly turn against corporate polluters, these may face an annual $100 bln cleanup bill.

Conscious consumerism will be left on the shelf

29 Dec 2022

Shoppers have been forking out for organic and plant-based food for health, environmental or other reasons. Squeezed incomes will test their ethical commitment. Throw in higher input costs, and 2023 looks an unappetising year for fake burger purveyor Beyond Meat and its rivals.

Climate change will become a CEO dealbreaker

22 Dec 2022

For corporate chieftains who profess to recognize the threat of climate change, the balancing act between pursuing shareholder value and helping the planet avoid a crisis is becoming unsustainable. Breakingviews imagines a missive from a CEO who opts to put values before value.

Texas’s small ESG stick still packs a wallop

15 Dec 2022

Lone Star state legislators exempted Vanguard from a hearing on environmental investing because the asset manager ditched a net zero coalition. Texas’s pension fund is much smaller than ESG-friendlier California’s, but its political heft makes it hard to ignore.

Guest view: Protecting Earth’s underground heroes

12 Dec 2022

Construction, erosion and agriculture undermine biodiversity and hamper the fight against climate change, with potentially disastrous economic consequences. Yet conservation efforts fail to include tiny subterranean organisms, write Toby Kiers and Mark Tercek. That’s a mistake.

Fortescue boss sets himself up for climate bonanza

7 Dec 2022

Twiggy Forrest has bought wind-farm firm CWP for some $2.7 bln via his personal fund. Being the largest owner of Aussie renewables is a great hedge for his miner’s punt on green hydrogen. And if the gas takes off, he’ll earn even more selling the clean energy needed to make it.

Aussie energy woes put miners in windfall hole

5 Dec 2022

Canberra may cap the soaring price of coal or tax profits to reduce electricity costs. That’s a potentially explosive new risk for producers like Whitehaven, which is buying back up to a third of its stock at near record highs. Such short-term largesse could come back to burn.

How to design a formula to pay for climate loss

28 Nov 2022

COP27 saw countries agree to a “loss and damage” fund to help states bear the effects of climate change. But it didn’t say how it would work. Hugo Dixon proposes a formula which encourages countries to cut carbon emissions by pinning the cost on the biggest polluters.

The world can harness trade to save the planet

21 Nov 2022

Trade is a major cause of global warming. The solution is to tax commerce in carbon-intensive goods and remove tariffs on clean ones, to support low-carbon technologies, and to do all this fairly. It’s a priority for next year’s COP28 conference in Dubai, says Hugo Dixon.