The great climate change wealth transfer is here - The Japan Times
The great climate change wealth transfer is here - The Japan Times
There has rarely been a better time to be a seller of fossil fuels — nor a worse time to be exposed to their effects.
Thanks to resilient crude prices and lackluster investment activity, shareholders in oil and gas companies are enjoying a bonanza. Of the $569 billion in dividends paid by businesses with at least $10 billion in net income over the past 12 months, more than a third — $206 billion — has come from fossil energy. Almost half of that has come from just one firm, Saudi Arabian Oil Co. The United States is producing more oil and more gas than any nation in history. The S&P 500’s index of energy companies hit a record high in April.
Even as sums are rising on the credit side of fossil fuels' ledger, they are climbing on the debit side, too.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
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Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”