Green Lights April 18: Top stories this week
Don't miss a single story from the best of Callaway Climate Insights.
. . . . Welcome back to Green Lights. Here’s our roundup of the best of Callaway Climate Insights. This week, David Callaway assesses the activist shareholder threat to BP’s leadership, and California’s role in the Democratic resistance. Plus, Mark Hulbert measures green and brown stocks and looks at how investors could create long-short portfolios on either side of the growth/value trade. Have a hoppy weekend and please subscribe to support our climate finance journalism.
. . . . BP’s CEO Murray Auchincloss and Chair Helge Lund were re-elected at the oil giant’s annual general meeting on Thursday, but Lund’s shareholder support took a big hit. The change in temperature comes as the company faces criticism from investors who are concerned about climate risks and activist shareholder Elliott Management. Read David Callaway’s take on the conflict and the message it sends.
. . . . California Gov. Gavin Newsom emerged this week as one of the early leaders in the Democratic Resistance. While Newsom is expected to be a vocal opponent to President Donald Trump (Newsom is likely to run for executive office in 2028), his early defensiveness puts the world’s sixth largest economy at risk of taking the brunt of the president’s ire on several fronts. That’s a politically risky place to be, David Callaway writes, especially with so much of the state’s fortunes tied to immigration. But a potentially rewarding perch from which to lead when the time comes to shift the fight back to climate change.
. . . . Trump’s tariff circus is having an unintended effect. It’s helping the world fight climate change. In a world of “drill, baby, drill” and energy security, nothing reduces harmful greenhouse gas emissions more than a dramatic slowdown in oil production growth. That’s just what the International Energy Agency forecast this week when it said it sees oil production growth slowing by 30% this year because of concern about the erratic tariffs.
. . . . Tuesday is Earth Day. Think globally, act locally. Check out the Earth Day Activities being planned around the world and find one to participate in wherever you live. The theme for Earth Day 2025 is Our Power, Our Planet.
. . . . A new study seeking to solve the conundrum about trading strategies for green stocks says investors should consider them as growth stocks versus value stocks for traditional oil and gas companies, writes Mark Hulbert. It also shows that green stocks have their greatest momentum during periods where growth is in demand, and Hulbert suggests a trader could even create long-short portfolios on either side of the growth/value trade.
More greenery . . . .
What’s in your bowl?: As CO₂ emissions rise, so too will arsenic levels in rice (BBC)
Eat your veggies: Food Waste is a Major Contributor to Climate Change (UC San Diego)
Shifting vines: Climate change is redrawing the global wine map (euronews)
First eggs, now coffee: The price of roast beans hits highest mark in 50 years (The Independent)
Wandering poles: The North Pole could wander nearly 90 feet west by the end of the century (Live Science)
State of the climate: Europe is the fastest warming continent (WMO)