Climate change has been framed as an ethical issue for years now, with mixed success. But now the calls for socially responsible investing to save the planet are increasingly being reinforced by cold economic logic. Mainstream institutional investors are recognising that climate change is not just a threat to the health of the planet, but also a threat to the wealth of their clients. The oil industry is on the front lines of rising investor fears about the long-term returns of fossil fuel energy sources. That is partly because of bitter experience. The European utility sector has seen hundreds of billions of euros wiped off its market capitalisation by the roll out of wind and solar power in the past decade. The reason why wind and solar energy pose such a threat to the energy system established over the past 100 years is simple: they have a short-run marginal cost of zero. To view the full article visit Financial Times.
