FOTOTHERM

An 80% weasel coefficient Some activists, recently had a conversation with representatives of  TIAA  to try to persuade them to divest from fossil fuels.  The conversation was mostly cordial, but predictably did not get anywhere. One of the activists summed up the response from TIAA as “a non-response with a weasel coefficient of at least 80%.”  Regarding the weasel coefficient, he also asked:  Can anyone explain to me what “our overarching strategy which targets climate-risk adjusted returns over the long-term” means in plain English?  Well, yes.  Yes I can. Climate risk adjusted returns When an investment manager says she is targeting “climate risk adjusted returns,” she is saying: Climate change is real, and it presents real risks which will impact investment returns. Those climate risks are knowable, and she has useful estimates of how those risks affect companies. She will use that knowledge to make money for her clients over the long term while n...

This year, renewable energy sources such as, the wind and the sun, overtook fossil fuels (according to a new report published on Wednesday). "In the first half of 2020, renewables (wind, solar, hydro and bioenergy) generated 40% of the EU-27's electricity, whereas fossil fuels generated 34%,". Ember stated that the amount of electricity generated by renewables in the EU's 27 member states rose by 11% in the period from January to June. [...] Wind and solar alone reached a record of 21% of Europe's total electricity generation, and reached even higher penetration in Denmark (64 percent), Ireland (49%) and Germany (42%), the study said. Fossil fuels, on the other hand, fell by 18 percent, squeezed both by rising renewable generation and a seven-percent fall in electricity demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, the EU-27 power sector's emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) fell by about 23%, according to Ember. "This ...