We’ve all been scammed into believing Black Friday is a boon for consumers – it’s a marketing scam. What else might lurk around the corner in terms of free stuff? How about abundant and free energy. Careful what you wish for…

COP27 is proving a Tower of Babel, but the world is waking up to the reality of climate change and the opportunities it will be bring for climate change mitigation and renewable energy investments. Just don’t let the current financial industrial complex be setting the route-map! We need disruptive climate change investment!  

Last week saw a succession of fundamental shifts in how the global economy is working: inflation, China’s reopening, western politics, crypto, Climate Change, Tech stocks, and in Ukraine. These all have significant potential market implications.

COP27 is about the politics of global energy – energy being the lifeblood of growth and prosperity. The Ukraine war’s outcome is also about energy: can Europe withstand Russia’s General Winter and coordinated assaults on its’ economy and political stability.

Chips are a critical component of global supply chains – there are significant geopolitical risks inherent in the concentration of semi-conductor production in Taiwan. However, an even bigger geopolitical risk may have been triggered by the FBI raiding Trump’s lair in Mar-a-Lago.

Biden’s Tax and Climate Bill is the closest thing to a grown-up energy transition plan we’ve seen in the West. There is a significant risk ESG fundamentalism trips up efforts to reach carbon neutrality – but there are signs pragmatism will win out.

Its World Ocean Day – without the oceans we would not exist. We’re finally waking up to the reality of how oceans regulate and benefit the planet. We are learning to treat them better, yet there is so much more they could provide.

HSBC is being pilloried for comments made by its’ ESG head, but what he said is worthy of consideration. Overly emotional ESG is a distortion that may be as dangerous as climate change denial.

Wind power is the not the renewable energy panacea we are told it is. It is part of the climate change solution, but we need to understand it’s limitations, and not allow it to distort energy transition. More should be spent on alternatives like tide, hydro and thermal.

 If we are seriously considering a massive investment in nuclear to mitigate climate change, it might also be sensible to consider hydrogen too. Could hydrogen be a useful fuel source for a carbon free future too?