Sustainability

Breakdown: Net zero goals demand zero tolerance

10 May 2021

Only a fifth of the world’s top public companies have promised to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Among those that have, promises are tricky to compare and rely on ambitious offset schemes. Breakingviews helps investors find the substance behind the hot air.

Review: A better way of valuing the world

6 May 2021

The pandemic is one of three crises that Mark Carney dissects to show how market prices can fail, to society’s detriment. He suggests solutions in “Value(s)”. Better still, the former central banker is trying to practice what he preaches with his work on climate change.

Winner-takes-most electric car bet risks collision

7 May 2021

Tesla and Volkswagen shares have leapt as they steal a lead in the booming market for battery vehicles. Yet meeting supercharged expectations implies they will need to hold a market share of nearly 40% by 2025. Rivals’ zero-emission goals will make such dominance unlikely.

Green shoots’ salad days have come and gone

6 May 2021

Toppy valuations for wind and solar sparked Italy’s Eni, Spain’s Acciona and others to hire investment bankers for spinoffs and IPOs of renewables assets. Rising oil prices and fears of a green bubble mean firms now need size and a track record to play. That’s a good thing.

Capital Calls: Peloton, Honest Co, Office Depot

5 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: Treadmill recall leaves investors in the workout app stranded; shares in Jessica Alba’s consumer packaged goods company opened more than 30% above their IPO price; the office-supply company paper-shuffles its way to a higher valuation.

Review: Planting the seeds of fresh crises

30 April 2021

Niall Ferguson’s “Doom” aspires to a political theory of disaster, epidemiological or otherwise. The historian doesn’t really deliver but hints at a catastrophe to come. Disagreements over whether democracy or authority defeated Covid-19 could ferment a terrible conflict.

Biden’s biggest climate threat is U.S. politics

22 April 2021

An environmental confab of 40 world leaders returns America to the global stage. Rivals like Xi will attend, though some pledges may be vague. Given Joe Biden’s predecessor showed how easily U.S. vows can be undone, his task is to make promises stick before power shifts again.

Guest view: Getting finance in shape for COP26

21 April 2021

The $100 trillion required to decarbonise the world economy by 2050 won’t materialise without the financial sector. But banks, insurers and asset managers need a single set of standards to assess their net-zero ambitions. That’s now happening, write Mark Carney and Nigel Topping.

New Zealand blends specially bright shade of green

21 April 2021

The United States and China are vowing to work together on decarbonisation. JPMorgan and Citi raised their sustainable-finance goals. Investors are pushing harder, too. A Kiwi plan to force banks and money managers to come clean about climate risks neatly ties it all together.

Oatly’s IPO health depends heavily on China

20 April 2021

A partnership with Starbucks in the People’s Republic boosted the Swedish oat milk maker’s sales and profile. Major investor China Resources should help with future growth. But the state-backed group’s involvement is also a risk for buyers of its mooted $10 bln U.S. listing.

UK climate goals could use a short-term stick

20 April 2021

PM Boris Johnson has committed to hit tougher CO2 emissions targets by 2035. That’s good, but the most important decade for tackling climate change is the 2020s. A better way to spur action would be to make it politically or legally difficult to duck shorter-term carbon goals.

Anglo American tests shareholders’ ESG bona fides

8 April 2021

The miner is giving investors one share in its spun-off thermal coal unit for every 10 already held. The commodity’s kryptonite status means many European institutions will want to get rid of them for the same reason as Anglo. But rising coal prices may turn some heads.

Who wants to be an electric-car billionaire?

8 April 2021

In China, who doesn’t may be the better question. Dishwasher maker Haier, property developer Evergrande and smartphone maker Xiaomi are piling into the over-invested sector. They may disrupt the industry; they will certainly accelerate the coming bloodbath.

Europe’s greenwash-slayer becomes Trojan Horse

30 March 2021

The EU has proposed classifying natural gas as sustainable. Its taxonomy, which differentiates green assets from the rest, is likely to be watered down further. Such an imperfect guide risks leading investors astray and delaying progress towards decarbonising the economy.

ESG wave crashes into Volkswagen’s narrow straits

26 March 2021

U.S. eco-investors have pushed ordinary shares in the $153 bln automaker way above equal preference stock after CEO Herbert Diess upgraded battery car plans. Investors’ need for voting rights plus VW’s small free-float may explain why. But the lack of clarity invites a snapback.

Carbon markets have a Goldilocks problem

24 March 2021

Europe’s lowball carbon prices used to be a joke. Since the EU acted to clear a permit glut, they’ve spiked above 40 euros a tonne to a level just right to drive CO2 cuts. The challenge is to stop a political backlash if financial interlopers ramp prices too far, too quickly.

Guest view: The EU is tarnishing its green jewel

23 March 2021

The European Union’s Taxonomy is supposed to mean stakeholders can differentiate between sustainable investments and carbon-heavy ones. A new plan to treat gas as green is a huge mistake, argues Sandrine Dixson-Declève. It turns a potential global template into a paper tiger.

Banks’ climate pledges suffer from water scarcity

22 March 2021

It barely gets a mention in Wall Street’s net-zero goals. Yet water accounts for a good slug of carbon emissions and 90% of global warming-related crises from U.S. droughts to Australia’s floods. Banks can speed toward sustainable finance by paying attention to the resource.

Axa delivers kick up derrière to green investing

15 March 2021

The French group will no longer insure RWE or invest in its shares due to its coal exposure. It’s harsh on the German utility, which also has extensive wind and solar power assets. But it may be a wakeup call for other big companies with less impressive decarbonisation plans.

Antipodean wind deal harnesses three power sources

15 March 2021

Two companies divvying up New Zealand’s Tilt Renewables for $2.1 bln are paying a 99% premium and 96 times earnings. The scarcity of green assets is one driver. A fragmented market is another. The buyers need their governments to fulfil clean energy pledges to justify the price.