Green Lights: Our Best Stories From 2023
Don't miss a single story of the best from Callaway Climate Insights this year
Editor’s note: We’re taking a holiday break and will be back in January with all the climate finance news you can use. We hope you have a very merry season of celebration.
. . . . Welcome back to Green Lights, our weekly roundup of the best of Callaway Climate Insights. This week, as we start a short holiday break, we’re bringing you some of the best of our columns from the past year. We hope you enjoy these insights and we wish you a healthy and prosperous 2024. Please subscribe using our great year-end sale. See you next year.
. . . . Best gift ever: Get ready for the holidays by giving your favorite climate enthusiast (or yourself) a subscription to Callaway Climate Insights. Just $120 (20% off) for an annual subscription with this holiday offer!
. . . . It was saying something that delegates to COP28 saw it as a victory going in if they could come away with a global commitment to “phase down” or “phase out” fossil fuels, writes David Callaway. The oil interests running this year’s summit fought even that type of wording, agreeing in the end only to “transition away” from oil and gas by 2050. How did we get to the point at the most influential climate conference of the year when arguing over semantics is more important than real solutions to global warming? It may be time for an overhaul of the 28-year COP process. . . .
. . . . Mutual funds that are truly climate friendly don’t just grow on trees, Mark Hulbert wrote for us earlier this year. He looks at a new study that aims to measure the extent to which a portfolio deviates from what it would have held independent of ESG. To find mutual funds that go the furthest in pushing a climate-friendly agenda, confine your search to smaller funds with the highest active share. And focus on such funds’ ratings along the “E” dimension alone rather than their overall ESG score.
. . . . Counting sheep? Yes, Matthew Diebel writes in a recent insight column, we can sleep better knowing grazing sheep are keeping us safe from wildfires. Read more about the herds chewing down parched undergrowth — fuel for wildfires — for landowners, government agencies, housing developments and detention centers all across the West.
. . . . Legendary environmentalist and ethologist Dr. Jane Goodall has made it her life’s work to observe and communicate with animals, but she tells David Callaway in April that she’s not a fan of using AI to try to turn their languages into human form. In an exclusive interview with Callaway Climate Insights the week before her 89th birthday, Goodall gave her views on technology, investing in natural restoration, and why she believes in life after death. . . .
. . . . 2023 was the hottest on record for our planet, and new research shows temperature spikes in New York state due to climate change have led to a marked increase in the number of hospital visits for alcohol-related disorders such as alcohol poisoning, alcohol withdrawal and alcohol-induced sleep disorders. Moderation is the best policy when it comes to both cold beverages and hot days, it seems.
. . . . Jack Bowers, the editor of Fidelity Monitor and Insights, who has a 35-year record of beating the broad equity market averages, is a rare investor with a positive view of the renewable energy transition, writes Mark Hulbert. While many climate investors are frustrated with the pace of the transition, Bowers thinks it can be done more rapidly and at less cost and economic harm than anyone in the fossil fuel industry expects, in part because of the surge in wind and solar energy usage. Check out his thoughts, along with Mark’s analysis.
Here’s to a greener New Year . . . .
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