Political Expediency vs Saving the Planet
Dangerous times ahead as politicians weigh up the pros of sacrificing long-term climate and environmental goals for short-term electoral gains.
Blain's Morning Porridge
Financial Commentary for Smart People
Blain's Morning Porridge
Financial Commentary for Smart People
Category sustainability
You can’t save the planet with a short-term mindset
Stock and Bond markets having been going up and down since year dot. Get used to it. But we do have long-term problems that won’t be solved effectively by short-term political and market objectives, or by the contradictions that lie at the heart of the human psyche.
Wind, Carbon Life-Cycle Costs, and Why we need Other Renewables..
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.
ESG – Time for a Complete Rethink
ESG is a marvellous concept appallingly executed. To understand how it’s gone wrong I recommend Tariq Fancy’s rant about his time as Sustainability CIO at Blackrock. To figure out how we actually deliver climate-change mitigation, social amelioration and better corporate governance, and avoid these lofty concepts being hijacked and suborned by business and finance interests, we need to replace the carrot of ESG with the stick of Carbon Taxes and Corporate Legislation. Time to get real and dispense with ESG claptrap.
Net Carbon Zero – is this the only way?
The International Energy Authority (IEA) is grabbing all the climate change headlines with its demands for Carbon Zero by 2050 and increased spending on renewable energy. The IEA now represents the consensus – the received wisdom. How achievable are their targets? Or will economic reality and rising costs of climate abatement result in something very different? It’s easy to demand neutrality – but will be frighteningly difficult to achieve.
Greenwashing the ugly truth about Oceans
Seaspiracy is a shocking, flawed, yet critical film. It should set the market thinking about what sustainability really means, addressing how we skirt the real issues on climate change and environmental degredation. It should provide a much-needed kick up the a**e to box-ticking ESG investment stupidity.