Ten financial actors with the most influence on the fossil fuel economy own 49.5% of potential emissions from the world’s largest energy firms, a recent study has found.
“This shows us that both investors and governments can be at the forefront of change if citizens and clients urge them to de-carbonize,” Truzaar Dordi, lead researcher from the University of Waterloo, said in a media statement. “A concentrated number of investors with the potential to influence the trajectory of the fossil fuel industry is either a problem or an opportunity, depending on how you see things.
“If they’re serious, capital markets can enable a low-carbon transition within the top coal, oil and gas reserve owners in the world,” Dordi said. “Recent pledges to reduce carbon exposure in investment portfolios and engagement with the fossil fuel industry indicate we may already be moving in that direction.”
The paper outlines specific ways the top 10 governments and private investment advisors can make changes that will have a transformative impact in. Some recommendations include public disclosure of a scheduled phase-out of fossil fuel financing, an assessment of a portfolio’s exposure to climate risk in a 2°C world, and an alignment of investment portfolios with a 1.5°C scenario.
“Individually, reducing the demand for fossil fuels by driving and flying less and turning off the air-conditioner are great. We should keep doing that,” the researcher pointed out. “But we also need to reduce our production of fossil fuels, which these 10 actors can lead. Without them, we simply won’t have what it takes to meet our emissions targets and avoid catastrophe.”
In other words, the authors of the study believe that, through their influence on the functions of resource mobilization, capital markets have the potential to disrupt incumbent regimes and create enabling conditions for sustainability transitions.
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