A catastrophe caused by climate change is seen as the biggest potential threat to the global economy in 2016, according to a survey of 750 experts conducted by the World Economic Forum. The annual assessment of risks conducted by the WEF before its annual meeting in Davos on 20-23 January showed that global warming had catapulted its way to the top of the list of concerns.
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Six years ago the Copenhagen climate conference ended without an agreement in the midst of unprecedented acrimony. In December, the Paris conference ended in a robust agreement. The contrast between the two outcomes underlines how, as temperatures have risen and extreme weather events have followed each other in rapid succession, awareness of the threat posed by relentless global warming has grown among the policymakers of the world.
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The Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University (NYU) School of Law recently published a report summarizing a survey of economists with climate expertise. The report was a follow-up and expansion of a similar survey conducted in 2009 by the same institute. The key finding: there’s a strong consensus among climate economics experts that we should put a price on carbon pollution to curb the expensive costs of climate change.
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Energy and the environment were once more among the absent at last night’s presidential debate. Not too surprising, given the recent shootings in California and SCANDAL of the Sanders’ camp data breach. SCANDAL trumps everything in terms of politicians’ attention (and some would say the news media), and the shootings allowed for some actual disagreement about gun control, which is much more exciting than asking who would be a stronger proponent of renewable energy. (Yawn.)
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Investors want a trio of the world’s largest miners to make greater disclosure of risks associated with climate change, after this month’s Paris agreement to limit global warming. Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Glencore could face shareholder votes next year on whether they should reveal more about how their businesses might perform in a low-carbon world.
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Fracking firms plan to drill up to 68 shale gas wells in England in the next five years, after being handed new rights to explore across an estimated 4,500 square miles of land. At least 14 of the new drilling sites – in parts of Yorkshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire – are expected to be fracked under the plans, as ministers attempt to “get shale gas moving”.
