Sustainability

Shipping tax could yield $100 bln climate windfall

12 Jun 2023

The industry emits almost 3% of the world’s greenhouse gases. It’s also largely escaped taxation. A levy on emissions would encourage shippers to go green, while raising money to help poorer countries. Key meetings in the next month are the time to push the idea, says Hugo Dixon.

Americans indulge green at home, black abroad

31 Mar 2023

U.S. renewable power generation surpassed coal for the first time in 2022. But companies like Peabody Energy and Consol Energy are benefitting from exporting their dirty power source. Cleaning up the country's act, while exporting more filthy fuel, wastes part of this effort.

Water finance pipe is full of recycled pledges

28 Mar 2023

Attendees left the UN’s first H2O confab in 46 years pledging to invest $300 bln. To hit that target, governments and companies like Veolia and Xylem mostly repackaged old commitments or dressed up ordinary outlays as new spending. Global water policy needs more pressure.

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.

India socialises some very easy ESG wins

15 Mar 2023

SBI’s recent $1 bln social loan, following a similar deal by HDFC, made the pair the world’s top issuers of such credit. They bolster the case for breaking up the responsible investing initialism. India’s next trick is appealing to a growing pool of fussier capital.

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.

China energy rethink can keep Europe warm

7 Feb 2023

A post-Covid economic rebound will increase Beijing’s appetite for liquefied gas. Yet a government push to use more coal and higher imports of pipeline gas from countries like Russia should keep demand 14% below a 2021 peak. That could ease the energy pain for gas-hungry Europe.

Banks will pump H2O to top of climate agenda

4 Jan 2023

Recent floods and aridity show global warming is undermining water security. Yet the resource gets a trickle of the dollars and attention Barclays, Citi and rivals devote to sustainability. The first COP-like water confab in decades is an apt time to divert more of that flow.

 

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.

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.

COP27 deal is a blessing in a very good disguise

21 Nov 2022

The premier forum for fighting climate change ended in Egypt with a largely inadequate agreement to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. But it did feature a small show of goodwill by rich countries. That might incentivise the big emitters of tomorrow to up their game.

Capital Calls: Twitter ads, Supervoting stock

11 Nov 2022

Concise views on global finance: Elon Musk is giving big brands an easy out – and a drain on advertising is harder for Twitter to overcome than Facebook; a dual-class share structure enabled the ousted CEO of TuSimple to team up with his co-founder and sack the board.

How Joe Biden can help save the planet at COP27

7 Nov 2022

“Just transition partnerships” with states like India are essential to fight climate change and advance Western interests. America needs to join up its trade, geopolitical and climate policies, says Hugo Dixon, as the U.S. president heads to the U.N. climate conference in Egypt.

Toyota’s new, new EV plan suggests smarter driving

25 Oct 2022

The $218 bln Japanese automaker is mulling its third electric-vehicle reboot in 13 months as rival Tesla leaves it in the dust. Frequent rejigs can mean bigwigs are flailing for ideas. But Toyota’s latest overhaul implies boss Akio Toyoda is addressing missteps with more speed.

Aussie budget could do with a spot of dam-busting

24 Oct 2022

Rising inflation and expectations of lower growth put Treasurer Jim Chalmers in a tight spot as he prepares his first comprehensive fiscal policy. Cancelling up to $4.7 bln worth of the previous government’s plans for unnecessary water infrastructure would relieve some pressure.

Aussies put net-zero nationalisation on the map

21 Oct 2022

The leader of Victoria says the state will take a controlling stake in new green power projects if he’s re-elected. That might crowd out capital. But done right, public ownership can spread financial risks and align policy with investors – just what the private sector wants.

Sovereign debt greens yet net-zero pledges darken

13 Oct 2022

Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund is the latest public body to issue securities to fund renewable assets. Strong buyer demand and the chance to flaunt action on climate change explain the boom. Yet national decarbonisation targets remain weak, and green bonds do little to improve them.