Global warming's ill wind blows over Wall Street, London
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Global warming isn’t subtle. It’s sometimes easy to argue about it and the cost/benefits of fighting it vs. keeping the power running, but that’s when it’s not in our faces with storms, heatwaves, wildfires and droughts. This summer is one of those times, and the two largest financial centers in the world are getting a harsh reminder of what might be to come.
In London, a relentless heatwave has melted train lines, closed businesses, and is now starting to affect commercial property prices in the City, for those thousands of properties that don’t have air conditioning, according to Bloomberg.
In New York, a wave of toxic wildfire smoke descended on the city and the entire Northeast region from Canada and the upper midwest again this week, choking commuters, holiday makers and businesses — and even threatening the final of the World Cup this weekend.
It’s a stark example to Wall Street and Washington that climate change has no borders. No nationalist policies and elite housing will save anyone from the impact of a pollution we all contributed to, some much more than others.
In the old days in Chicago, futures traders at the Board of Trade used to look out the windows and if it was raining, they would adjust prices on agricultural commodities. Seems no different now in New York City, or Chicago this week. (Below we look at how markets might be affected).
That smoke might come from Canada but it is everybody’s problem now.
Don’t forget to contact me directly if you have suggestions or ideas at dcallaway@callawayclimateinsights.com.
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Zeus: Global warming’s worst summer yet sends warning in market risk
. . . . The record heat across the U.S. and Europe this summer is causing a surge in power outages as electric grids struggle to keep up with demand for air conditioning while also watching out for high winds that can cause transmission lines to fall and cause wildfires. As this next stage of worsening global warming hits a world still at odds with climate change, the markets are starting to choose winners and losers, writes David Callaway in his Zeus column. Among the sectors most affected will be utilities and electric companies, but also financial firms that back them, according to S&P Global. Those least affected might be healthcare companies and real estate, though they won’t escape completely as extreme heat begins to affect people’s health as well as where they live.
Thursday’s subscriber insights
Data center politics gets serious
. . . . Lots of politicians have made hay by criticizing data centers for their environmental impact, but New York Gov. Kathy Hochul took it to a whole new level this week.
Hochul signed an executive order establishing a one-year moratorium on permits for construction of new data centers to give lawmakers time to put regulatory safeguards in place. We wrote a few months ago how Maine had passed legislation to do this but that bill was ultimately vetoed by the state’s governor.
New York is not a huge data center state, such as Virginia or Texas. But it has outsized influence in political circles, especially among blue states in an election year. Hochul’s move to use an executive order prevented the costly and time-consuming practice of trying to create legislation. After all, President Donald Trump doesn’t use executive orders for nothing. But it also brings the controversy over data centers, and in particular their water usage to cool their servers, into a bigger spotlight as the midterms in November approach.
While the moratorium will likely cost New York some business from the big tech giants, there are plenty of other areas for them to search. More importantly, it returns Hochul to the front line of climate-fighting politicians, after she delayed imposition of several net zero targets a few months ago because of the rising cost of energy now. Combined with her advancing of the first U.S. traffic congestion charge last year, she’s now a climate A-lister again.
The question will now be asked by other governors and legislators about whether it’s better to delay new data centers at least until after November, so they don’t get hurt by them at the polls. It’s a flashpoint between the benefits of new AI technology and the dangers of more pollution, coming in what is sure to be a record hot summer that is not going to go away.
Editor’s picks: New data, new debates; plus, Walmart, the energy company
Watch the video: The field of climate change is constantly changing, and every shift brings new levels of scientific disinformation. For example, recent analysis has emerged on RCP8.5, a scenario whose worst-case has been scaled back as the costs of renewable energy have fallen. While one particularly extreme model for warming has become more optimistic, the overall outlook remains worrisome. The response to this news, unsurprisingly, has reignited attacks on climate research. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists recently hosted a discussion with the authors of a new article explaining these developments, the political debate around it and how to understand the current outlook using the most recent data.
Walmart builds out fast-charging EV network
Walmart WMT 0.00%↑ is expanding its in-house EV charging network as part of a long-term strategy to run its own proprietary fast-charging network across thousands of Walmart and Sam’s Club locations by 2030. OPIS reports the retailer now has about 560 energized DC fast-charging ports operating across 70 locations in 15 states. The retailer activated 25 sites in May and six so far in June, according to an online tracker. Around 150 additional locations are under construction, and permits have been filed for nearly 200 more. Stations are expected to open soon in 29 states, OPIS reported, citing Walmart’s director of energy policy Matthew Nelson.
Words to live by . . . .
“We’d find more energy in the attics of American homes (through energy conservation measures) than in all the oil buried in Alaska.” — Amory Lovins, author and former chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute.