Green Lights March 7: 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 looks behind the scenes of banks’ retreat from climate targets amid political upheaval. Mark Hulbert parses research showing that the impact of physical climate risk on stocks is even greater than bonds. Check out the latest news and developments. And please subscribe to support our climate finance journalism.
. . . . Large banks in full-scale retreat from their climate targets in fear of President Donald Trump’s wrath are finding an unexpected obstacle to their political flip-flopping — their clients still want environmental, social and governance goals, writes David Callaway. ESG and DEI may be scrubbed from government websites, but they are still a real priority for asset managers with billions to invest, and those managers are making themselves heard.
. . . . Now that President Donald Trump has, er, “solved” the Panama Canal crisis he created with BlackRock buying out the Chinese ports on either side of it, (see below) his attention is likely to turn to Greenland next week as parliamentary elections are held. Ironically, climate change is a key part of his game plan.
. . . . The other winner in BlackRock’s $23 billion Panama ports deal: Larry Fink handed President Donald Trump an early geopolitical victory this week when it unexpectedly swooped in and purchased the two main ports for the Panama Canal from China’s CK Hutchinson for $19 billion. The deal was one of the biggest of the year so far and allowed Trump to claim he had pushed the Chinese out of one of the world’s biggest trade routes.
. . . . Researchers have long suspected that companies with strategies to fight climate change are rewarded by investors with slightly lower interest rates, or “greeniums,” when they raise money. But Mark Hulbert explains new research looks at power outages and shows that the impact of physical climate risk on stocks is even greater than bonds.
. . . . At least one Canadian province is threatening to drag power-sharing deals with the U.S. into the out-of-control tariff spat with the Trump administration. Ontario Premier Doug Ford went so far earlier this week as to threaten to cut off electricity exports to three states, including New York. Canada historically has been a net exporter of electricity to the U.S. but the trade has become more balanced in the past few years as the U.S. helped Canada make up for hydropower shortages on its west coast.
. . . . A California weather startup is stepping in to help the National Weather Service after hundreds of DOGE layoffs caused it to suspend weather balloon launches in Alaska. WindBorne CEO John Dean tells David Callaway, “We’ll have balloons flying over Kotzebue from Fairbanks.”
More greenery . . . .
A race: Greenland’s cherished sled dog tradition is threatened by climate change (NPR)
It’s not your imagination: Allergy season’s getting longer, more severe (CBS News)
Moving along: U.S. pulls out of flagship $45 bln global climate finance coalition (Financial Times)
Meanwhile: China announces plans for major renewable projects to tackle climate change (Reuters)
Bright idea: Worldwide rooftop photovoltaic electricity generation may mitigate global warming (Nature.com)