Big investors ask Glencore to justify thermal coal development

Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:

• Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
• Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
• Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
• Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. 

On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”

The use of coal, a staple of heating and electricity-generation for decades, is in decline in the United States — supplanted by newly abundant production of natural gas — but is still dominant in some parts of the world. While economical, coal use is particularly problematic as international attention focuses increasingly on climate change.