E.ON chief exec: energy companies need to step up to the net zero challenge and take responsibility August 2, 2021 Unless the UK takes a large number of brave and radical measures in this decade, our ambition of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 will just be a pipe dream. It will also mean Britain will miss out on the business and social benefits of a green economy, which would otherwise lay the foundations of prosperity [...]
Green with envy: companies around the world have pledged to go net zero without a plan to get there July 29, 2021 There has been an avalanche of commitments to reduce emissions, from private companies to governments around the world. More than 20 per cent of the world’s largest corporations have set net zero targets and most major economies have committed to achieving net zero by the mid century. Yet, with the existing policies, we are currently [...]
Cop26 is our last chance to tackle climate change as extreme weather takes hold July 26, 2021 With less than 100 days to go until the UN Climate Change Conference – also known as COP26 – kicks off in Glasgow, preparations are well underway for the most important summit since that held in Paris back in 2015. Expectations are high, and rightly so. After all, to quote Sir David Attenborough, this is [...]
G20 ministers fail to agree on climate goals in communique July 23, 2021 Energy and environment ministers from the Group of 20 rich nations have failed to agree on the wording of a key climate change commitment in their final communique, Italy’s ecological transition minister Roberto Cingolani said today. The G20 meeting was seen as a decisive step ahead of United Nations climate talks, known as COP 26, [...]
Regulation and investors’ demands push fund managers towards ESG July 20, 2021 Regulatory imperatives and investor demand are driving an increased focus on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) principles, according to a PwC report published today. The study found that three-quarters of the fund managers questioned – holding £15.5 trillion in assets – are being influenced by investors and policymakers to drive sustainability outcomes. Regulation 76 [...]
Britain’s decarbonising its transport but it’s losing the race against time July 20, 2021 Dozens in Germany and Belgium have died in flooding. This month Canada recorded its three warmest days ever. The planet is warming, provoking more extreme weather, disrupting fragile ecosystems, threatening planetary catastrophe. We need action quickly to meet the targets the global community has set to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Mayor of London wants London [...]
Exclusive: Consumers most worried about climate change despite government pledges July 15, 2021 Despite the recent mountain of pledges from governments and businesses, consumers have identified climate change as the issue about which they are least optimistic, City A.M. can reveal. A new sustainability survey from Public First and Brodie shows that in the UK, “climate anxiety” is at the top of customers concerns, with a net optimism [...]
EU to ban petrol car sales by 2035 and slash aviation fuel tax exemption in massive climate push July 14, 2021 The EU today unveiled a huge package of climate-based reforms including an effective ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2035. Under the proposals, the European Commission said it was targeting a 100 per cent reduction in emissions from cars by the middle of the next decade. In order to push [...]
Behind the OPEC standoff: Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the rush to decarbonise in the Middle East July 13, 2021 The breakdown of talks between the OPEC+ group of oil producers last week came down to disagreements between Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The two often time allies have found themselves on opposite sides of the fence over production levels of oil, a running source source of tension that has come to the fore more [...]
Responsible investing is not a bubble set to burst, it is a greater structural evolution July 8, 2021 In recent months concerns have grown about responsible investment “bubbles”. In May, MSCI warned that clean energy exchange-traded funds are as crowded as technology stocks were at the height of the 1999 boom. Yet, whether we like it or not, bubbles are exactly what we should expect at this stage of the sustainable economic transition. [...]