Green Lights Jan. 26: Top stories this week
Don't miss a single story of the best from Callaway Climate Insights.
. . . . Welcome back to Green Lights. Here’s our weekly roundup of the best of Callaway Climate Insights. This week, we have insights on the Doomsday Clock, the delay in EU climate disclosure regulations and the outlook for climate investing opportunities in Latin America this year. Here are the highlights in a simple and convenient format that makes it easy for our readers. It’s also easy to subscribe.
. . . . The push by investors for more climate disclosure from companies, so controversial in the U.S., was hit with a setback in Europe this week as well after EU regulators delayed a new rule by two years for eight specific sectors, including oil and gas. David Callaway says that for investors looking to limit climate risk, it’s a frustrating setback at a time when those risks are becoming more and more apparent.
. . . . Everyone knows that understanding how ESG indexes are put together can be confusing. Ratings of sustainable stocks are all over the place. But one strategy, involving choosing stocks with recent price momentum, has yielded a surprising outcome, according to new research explained by Mark Hulbert. And it goes to the heart of how two very popular index companies may be building their products, and possibly selling them.
. . . . Matthew Diebel admits he has, like most of us, a soft spot for animals. And that’s why he finds it particularly difficult to see so many reports of animals, such as the elephants seen above in Zimbabwe, dying as a tragic result of climate change. Drought, fire, changing weather patterns. The list goes on. Just like humans, the very young, the elderly and the sick are suffering most.
. . . . The annual Doomsday Clock announcement, for decades a symbol of the scientific community’s concern about humanity destroying itself, is sometimes derided by critics as a stunt. But the people who run The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, founded by Albert Einstein (with help from Robert Oppenheimer) are deadly serious about it. David Callaway explains why the clock remains at 90 seconds to midnight this year.
. . . . For climate investors, 2024 is either the year to look under rocks in Latin America for great values, or crawl under them in frustration. Veteran Latin American correspondent Mike Molinski gives investors his list of New Year’s resolutions for investors interested in climate plays in one of the world’s most volatile investment and political regions. . . .
. . . . Some people blame the Sun for climate change. But, says NASA, several lines of evidence show that current global warming cannot be explained by changes in energy from the Sun. The amount of solar energy that Earth receives has followed the Sun’s natural 11-year cycle of small ups and downs with no net increase since 1880. Over the same period, global temperature has risen markedly.
More greenery . . . .
Holy Grail: Battery breakthrough that could slash price of electric cars (The Independent)
Empty rivers: Climate change drives Amazon rainforest's record drought (Reuters)
Climate win?: Pause on new liquified natural gas export terminals (ABC News)
Wanna build a snowman?: Students raise awareness about climate change (Steamboat Pilot)
Message for Florida lawmakers: Youth climate advocates flood Tallahassee (Miami Herald)
We knew it: Arctic zombie viruses in Siberia could spark new pandemic (The Guardian)