Green Lights Oct. 4: 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 weekly roundup of the best of Callaway Climate Insights. David Callaway considers Chinese ETFs, renewable plays and the global impact, as well as the tragedy of Hurricane Helene and the national climate debate (of the vice-presidential kind). Mark Hulbert says the track record of government climate policies is worse than you think. More policies don’t necessarily equate to better outcomes. Have a safe weekend and please support our great climate finance journalism by subscribing.
. . . . With a deadly disaster such as Hurricane Helene so fresh in voter minds, and possibly even threatening early voting efforts, climate change is an issue the presidential and vice-presidential candidates would be advised to pay close attention to, writes David Callaway.
. . . . It’s fashionable in climate diplomatic circles to claim that effective climate technology must be accompanied by strong government policies to make a difference, but a new study from Oxford University shreds that idea, writes Mark Hulbert. The study of some 1,500 policies in 41 countries over the past 25 years reveals that 96% of them failed, in particular outright bans on certain polluting practices and many carbon prices and energy taxes.
. . . . It must have seemed logical back in medieval times to use a glacier as a border between Switzerland and Italy. But now that it’s melting at an alarming pace (25% over the past 50 years), the two countries have to redraw their centuries-old dividing line.
. . . . China’s stock market is closed this week for a national holiday but that hasn’t stopped investors from leaping on any ideas tied to the remarkable surge in the past week after Xi Jinping’s government fired the economic stimulus bazooka, including Chinese ETFs and renewable plays, writes David Callaway. As interest rates fall and investor interest in renewable energy markets heats up again, we expect much more focus on China and its competitive threat in international markets, and not just a little friction at upcoming climate summits.
. . . . Britain, where coal power was born 142 years ago with a coal plant built by Thomas Edison to light the streets of London, formally severed its addiction to coal this week with the closing of the country’s last remaining coal plant. It now becomes the first major economy to turn its back completely on coal in favor of renewable energy, setting an example for the rest of Europe, China, and the U.S.
More greenery . . . .
Is this the new October?: These U.S. cities hit 100 degrees this month (Vox)
Resuming the fight: Mexico’s new president promises to battle climate change (The AP)
The wave is building: Climate change challenges to dams (Hydro Review)
Turning green: Antarctica changing rapidly due to warming (UPI)
The reach of hurricanes: These storms are dangerous even far from the coast (NPR)