October 2020 Environmental News: The End of Oil, ESG Investing, and More
Photo by Zbynek Burival
Here’s the best of what we’ve read over the last month.
“Investors looking for more sustainable-investing funds in their retirement plans could be in for a wait. The U.S. Labor Department in June proposed a rule that would make it more difficult for funds focused on so-called do-good investments—meaning they select securities based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors—to be included in 401(k) plans.”
— 401(k)s Could Become Even Less Welcoming to ESG Funds (The Wall Street Journal)
“Today, the global oil industry is in a tailspin. Demand has cratered, prices have collapsed, and profits are shrinking. The oil majors (giant global corporations including BP, Chevron, and Shell) are taking billions of dollars in losses while cutting tens of thousands of jobs. Smaller companies are declaring bankruptcy, and investors are looking elsewhere for returns. Significant changes to when, where, and how much oil will be produced, and by whom, are already underway. It is clear that the oil industry will not recover from COVID-19 and return to its former self. What form it ultimately takes, or whether it will even survive, is now very much an open question.”
— The End of Oil is Near (Sierra Magazine)
“To do its part in limiting global temperature rise to between 1.5° and 2° Celsius, the US must reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest. To achieve this, the full resources of the US economy must be bent toward manufacturing the needed clean-energy technology and infrastructure.”
— How to drive fossil fuels out of the US economy, quickly (Vox)
“Some 59 million people visited a refuge last year. Amid so much natural beauty, it’s likely that few noticed anything amiss. Those intimately familiar with these sanctuaries, however, discern a harsher reality: The refuge system is shouldering a growing workload—more visitors, more land to manage, and more maintenance needs—while being chronically underfunded. As one result, since 2011, the system has shed more than 700 staff positions, even as it grew by 15 refuges.”
— Overwhelmed and Understaffed, Our National Wildlife Refuges Need Help (Audubon Magazine)
“Alternative-energy investments are leaving their traditional peers in the dust. The First Trust Nasdaq Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund is trading at a record high. The iShares Global Clean Energy Exchange-Traded Fund has surged to its highest level since 2010, and the Invesco Solar ETF is at its highest point since 2011. All three funds, which languished for years before taking off in 2020, have surged more than 80% this year, partly because investors are betting they stand to benefit from presidential candidate Joe Biden’s green-energy proposals.”
— Renewable-Energy Stocks Are Getting a Biden Bump (The Wall Street Journal)