SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT

Investment of $1 trillion a year needed for 2030 climate goals

Annual investments of about $1 trillion in renewable power and up to $130 billion in hydrogen by 2030 are needed to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change, a landmark report has concluded. The Breakthrough Agenda Report 2022 co-authored by the International Energy Agency and the International Renewable Energy Agency calculates that the world would need to add four times the amount of renewable energy that was deployed in 2021 every year by 2030, and drastically scale up hydrogen production to reach net-zero emissions. It states that up to 8TW of additional renewable capacity will be required by 2030, from about 3TW in 2021. The paper was commissioned by 45 governments making up 70% of the global economy. (Financial Times*; edie)

ENERGY

European Investment Bank resists pressure to fund gas projects

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will not fund any gas projects in spite of intense pressure from African countries and other developing nations to reclassify gas to draw investment. According to the EIB’s president, rather than backing the idea of gas as a so-called transition fuel from coal, which is the position of most African nations, the bank should take “the energy transition seriously and move to renewables”. The EU’s lending arm, and the biggest multilateral bank by assets, pledged in 2019 to phase out lending for all fossil fuel projects, including mainstream gas-fired power plants, by the end of 2021. The EIB president acknowledged the gap between European and African positions had widened. He said the answer lay in more rapid technology transfer and funding for renewable energy sources and biofuels. (Financial Times)*

TAX

UN Secretary-General calls for windfall taxes on fossil fuel firms

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for all industrialised countries to tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies in order to cover costs of food prices and energy costs. In an address to the UN General Assembly, Guterres condemned the fossil fuel industry and its “enablers”, including investors, PR firms and governments. Amid soaring energy, food and living costs, Guterres warned the world now faced rising inequalities, declining political trust, and worsening climate impacts that have compromised economies. He argued that polluters must pay for rising greenhouse gas emissions that have increased the likelihood of droughts, heatwaves, floods and storms worldwide. Guterres also reiterated calls for an end to fossil fuel subsidies, as well as major new investment in accelerating renewable energy capacity. (Business Green)*

LAWSUITS

McDonald’s to face Byron Allen’s $10bn discrimination lawsuit

Fast food chain McDonald’s has been ordered by a US judge to defend against media entrepreneur Byron Allen’s $10 billion lawsuit accusing the company of “racial stereotyping” by not advertising with Black-owned media. US District Judge Fernando Olguin said Allen could try to prove that McDonald’s violated federal and California civil rights laws by deeming his networks ineligible for the “vast majority” of its advertising dollars. Allen accused McDonald’s of relegating his Entertainment Studios Networks, to an “African American tier” with a separate ad agency and much smaller advertising budget, depriving them of tens of millions of dollars of annual revenue. A McDonald’s legal spokesperson maintained that the company viewed the lawsuit as “about revenue, not race,” and believed the evidence would show there was no discrimination. (Reuters)

COLLABORATION

Investors managing $7.1 trillion boost long-term net-zero goals

The Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance has posted improvements in backing up long-term climate goals with ambitions to cut financed emissions in the near-term. The UN-backed Alliance saw its network surpass 74 members, collectively managing $10.6 trillion in assets, confirming that the Alliance’s membership has grown sixfold since its inception, with the amount of assets under management growing fourfold. According to the report, 44 of the members have set 2025 targets to decrease their financed emissions. These targets are badged as aligned with a 1.5^oC temperature pathway. For the real estate sector, most asset managers are working towards emissions reductions of 25-30% by 2025 against a 2019 baseline. Moving forward, Alliance members are looking to set sector-specific decarbonisation targets. Currently, one-fifth of Alliance members have sector-specific targets for 2025. (edie)

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