Climate-conscious investors are preparing to deliver two top U.S. energy companies an unprecedented rebuke at annual shareholder meetings Wednesday. A month after world leaders came together to sign the historic Paris Agreement, cementing a promise to keep the Earth from warming more than 2 degrees Celsius, a record number of shareholder groups have backed proposals that…
The stranded asset problem is the sticking point from the standpoint of the companies and the pension funds holding all our little retirement funds. It’s the same as going along nicely with a good house and $100,000 in the bank — and suddenly the house burns down, the insurance company has gone bust, and they devalue the currency so your bank account is now worth $10,000.
And millions of people’s retirements go up in, well, not smoke. It’s a huge deal. And the only real way around it is to change taxes so that a lot more money from the 1% flows to everyone’s retirement security. Somehow, all I can think is, “Good luck with that.”
But this was my favorite bit: Chevron on why they don’t need to budget for reduced fossil fuel use, “A decrease in overall fossil fuel emissions, however, is not inconsistent with continued or increased fossil fuel production by the most efficient producers.” Short version: They can cut. Not us.