August 15, 2022
Climate Finance Media Round-Up — August 15, 2022
Fossil fuel divestment:
- Benefits Canada: When it comes to fossil fuels, is divestment or engagement the right route for institutional investors?
- CIO: NY Common to Review Net-Zero Readiness of Oil and Gas Firms
- Forbes: Climate Change Risk Is Emerging As A Mainstream Retirement Issue
- Reuters: Australian pension fund dumps $133 mln in oil, gas stakes in carbon neutral push
- Catholic Register: Canadian Sisters drop fossil fuel stocks
- Higher Ed Dive: What’s the outlook for college fossil fuel divestment?
- The Energy Mix: Ontario Pension Giant May Be Getting the Memo on Fossil Divestment, Members Say
- WHYY: N.J. lawmakers consider climate change measures, as drought looms
No such thing as safe fossil fuel project:
- New York Times: Manchin’s Donors Include Pipeline Giants That Win in His Climate Deal
- NBC News: U.S. faces mounting pressure to do more to help Cuba fight a deadly blaze at an oil facility
Inflation Reduction Act:
- The New Republic: An Easier Way To Fight Inflation and Climate Change: Price Controls
- Atmos: The Fight to Stop the Inflation Reduction Act’s Fossil Fuel Giveaway
- The Washington Post: Climate change’s impact intensifies as U.S. prepares to take action
- Slate: Critics Call Dems’ Climate Bill a “Devil’s Bargain” on Climate. Here’s What the Devil Is Getting.
- Washington Post: A victory at whose expense? Climate activists grapple with political compromise.
- The New Republic: The Bitter Triumph of the Inflation Reduction Act
- WSJ: Wall Street, Like the Climate Bill, Bets on Both Green Energy and Fossil Fuels
- Volts podcast: what to make of the Democrats’ last-minute climate bill
- The Lever: Dems’ Gift To Their Wall Street Donors
- The Nation: Does the Climate Bill Throw Environmental Justice Under the Bus?
- Ebony: New Climate and Tax Bill Seeks to Address Problems of the Black Farmer Relief Program
- US News & World Report: Inflation Reduction Act Becomes Crown Jewel of Democratic Messaging as Bill Nears Passage
- Grist: The Inflation Reduction Act promises thousands of new oil leases. Drillers might not want them.
- WSJ: Inflation Reduction Act’s $27 Billion in Green Funds Could Spur Private Investment
The Great Enablers:
- Business Insider: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon: ‘Why can’t we get it through our thick skulls?’ America boosting oil and gas production is ‘not against’ climate change
- New Scientist: 10 finance firms effectively own half of all future carbon emissions
- Benefits Canada: Banks failing to provide vital climate insights: institutional investor group
- Responsible Investor: BlackRock at odds with peers, asset owners and proxy firms over Japanese climate proposals
Global climate talks & COP27:
Creative action
- CHCH: Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs on 18-day tour raising awareness about Coastal GasLink pipeline spanning Northern B.C.
- The Bay State Banner: Big Papi climate change mural installed at Fenway Park
Woke capitalism, Greenwashing & Opposition:
- Harvard Business Review: ESG Investing Isn’t Designed to Save the Planet
- FWIW: GOP-linked dark money group targets House progressives to kill reconciliation bill
- Reuters: Florida governor’s bid for conservative pension bloc faces hurdles
- WV Record: West Virginia joins letter to BlackRock about use of pension funds
- Bloomberg Law: NYC’s Comptroller Strikes Back at Republicans’ ESG Criticisms
- Free Beacon: State AGs Take Aim at $10 Trillion Investment Giant Over Woke Investments
- The Daily Caller: ‘May Violate Multiple State Laws’: Republican AGs Demand BlackRock Answer For Pushing ESG On State Pension Funds
Global finance:
- Bloomberg: ESG’s ‘Social License’ Will Endure Even If the Letters Don’t
- The Guardian: Trillions of dollars at risk because central banks’ climate models not up to scratch
- Reuters: China shares close up as energy, renewable energy stocks shine
- Bloomberg: New ESG Rules to Protect Everyday Investors Cause Confusion
Climate (in)justice & solutions:
- HuffPost: Slavery Fueled Our Climate Crisis. Here’s How Reparations Can Slow It Down.
- CNBC: As climate change threatens more homes, some properties are getting too costly to insure
- The 19th: Women are working to make the clean energy transition more equitable
- The Guardian: Vanuatu, one of the most climate-vulnerable countries, launches ambitious climate plan
Accountability:
- PBS: U.S. Cities & States Are Suing Big Oil Over Climate Change
- The Guardian: Revealed: BP’s ‘greenwashing’ social media ads as anger over fuel costs rose
- The Guardian: ‘It’s a human rights issue’: young adults take Portugal climate crisis to court
Op-eds:
- Financial Times: Governments must seize the chance to transform our unsustainable energy systems
- Undark: The Federal Government Alone Won’t Save Us from Climate Change
- SF Chronicle: The Inflation Reduction Act will gut fossil fuels. This is California’s last chance to divest
- The Guardian: Congress is about to pass a historic climate bill. So why are oil companies pleased?
- Teen Vogue: Too Hot to Work: Millions Labor Outside in Extreme Heat, Risking Their Health
- Washington Post: Editorial Board: Foreboding new studies show the climate battle is not over
- The Hill: The Inflation Reduction Act may save the fossil fuel industries
- National Observer: Pension funds need to build climate resilience
- The BMJ: Wellcome has failed to set a clear red line for the fossil fuel industry
- Common Dreams: The Fed Should Not Punish Working People for Inflation Driven by Big Oil’s Greed
- The Guardian: The climate crisis is so boring – but I also hate the idea of burning to death
- The Hill: Unsung climate hero: Heat pumps can cool homes and lower emissions
- The Hill: Senate should pass FEMA reimbursement bill this hurricane season
- The Guardian: The Democrats’ climate bill is a historic victory. But we can’t stop here
- Bloomberg: Red America Should Love Green Energy Spending
Climate impacts:
- Grist: How climate change spurs megadroughts
- NPR: The Arctic is heating up nearly four times faster than the whole planet, study find
- USA Today: Experts warn California of a disaster ‘larger than any in world history.’ It’s not an earthquake.
- HuffPost: Climate Change Is Supercharging Most Infectious Diseases, New Study Finds
- CNN: More than 60% of land in the European Union and UK is now experiencing drought conditions
- Inside Climate News: How a Summer of Disasters Shows the US Isn’t Prepared for Climate Migration
- Gizmodo: Parasite-Style Basement Apartments Will Be Banned in Seoul After Flood Deaths
- USA Today: ‘I can’t do it again’: Can Appalachia blunt the devastating impacts of more flooding, climate change?
- The Guardian: Revealed: how climate breakdown is supercharging toll of extreme weather
- Washington Post: Celebrities use private jets excessively. It’s a climate nightmare.
- SFGate: Town of Klamath River nearly wiped out by McKinney Fire
- BBC News: France drought: Parched towns left short of drinking water
- Inside Climate News: Scientists Say It’s ‘Fatally Foolish’ To Not Study Catastrophic Climate Outcomes
- WLKY: Eastern Kentucky flooding: Death toll rises to 37; hundreds still missing
- CBS Boston: High tide flooding on the rise in New England, NOAA report finds
- The Guardian: Satellite images reveal shrinkage of Utah’s Great Salt Lake
- AP: Record floods strand 1K people in Death Valley National Park
- New York Times: How floods become human catastrophes