Speaking to the Conservative party conference, the PM announced £160m to upgrade ports and factories for building turbines to help the country "build back greener". The plan aims to create 2,000 jobs in construction and support 60,000 more. He said the UK would become "the world leader in clean wind energy".
Letter from economists: to rebuild our world, we must end the carbon economy | The Guardian
From deep-rooted racism to the Covid-19 pandemic, from extreme inequality to ecological collapse, our world is facing dire and deeply interconnected emergencies. But as much as the present moment painfully underscores the weaknesses of our economic system, it also gives us the rare opportunity to reimagine it. As we seek to rebuild our world, we can and must end the carbon economy.
Australian coal plants 'on a hiding to nothing' and likely to close before schedule | The Guardian
Australia’s ageing coal-fired power plants make little money and are likely to shut sooner than planned due to the amount of cheap renewable energy coming into the grid, the chair of Australia’s Energy Security Board said.
ANZ will ditch customers without a climate plan | AFR
ANZ boss Shayne Elliott says the bank will drop carbon-heavy business customers if they repeatedly refuse to develop a plan to deal with climate change risk. “If we really don’t see an alignment of values, we would move to exit that customer over time.”
Gladys Berejiklian says reaching net zero emissions by 2050 is achievable and would be 'the stuff of dreams' | The Guardian
Berejiklian said she believed a post-Covid world would present opportunities to consider “more sustainable ways of living, more sustainable ways of working”. “I think as we emerge from Covid that the public will feel connected and more in tune with protecting the environment,” she said.
Second Annual Global Survey of Climate Risk Management at Financial Firms | GARP
Green Swan 2 - Climate change and Covid-19: reflections on efficiency versus resilience | BIS
"It suggests that climate-related risks and pandemics such as Covid-19 have similarities. Both are massive global negative externalities and both are related to changes in our natural ecosystems. In addition to the extensive economic and financial damage they both produce, both directly affect human lives and thus could be classified as Green Swans. And, for both, there is a discrepancy between how scientists warn us about the quasi-certainty of their occurrence and how we fail to systematically consider their potentially huge costs and integrate them into risk frameworks and final prices."
BHP puts powerful lobby groups on notice over climate change | The Age
BHP said it would work with its industry associations to establish public standards and plans for how and what they would advocate for by the end this year, and would then monitor their activities in real-time for consistency with BHP's own positions. The new standards will require industry groups each year to outline which policy areas they intend to advocate.
Many homes with little fire protection | AAP
There are up to one million existing houses in high to extreme bushfire-risk areas that have little or no fire protection, the institute’s submission to the natural disasters royal commission said.
Top five considerations for meaningful climate-related corporate governance | Minter Ellison
Investor and regulatory expectations on corporate governance of climate-related risk continue to intensify. Our analysis of FY19 annual reports indicates that only 21 (7%) of ASX300 companies had 'meaningful' climate change risk disclosures, compared with 137 (45.5%) of reports containing little or none. Here, we consider key questions to help guide your assurance and disclosure process in the FY20 reporting season.
Download the report here.
Virus-driven change in energy | Alan Pears and Renew Economy
'Everyone was watching': BlackRock is showing its hand | Sydney Morning Herald
Battle ahead for EU’s 750-bn-euro recovery plan | Agence France
But the path ahead will be long, with cost-cutting member states promising fierce opposition and Germany warning that the plan would only come into effect next year. If passed, the proposal would be the biggest EU stimulus package in history and could see Europe-wide taxes on plastics and big tech introduced in a major advance for European integration. “This is Europe’s moment,” Von der Leyen told a session of the European Parliament as she announced the plan.
Coronavirus: The pandemic is also a reckoning for climate change, Turnbull tells British audience | The Age
"The COVID virus has been a case of biology confronting and really shaking the complacency of day-to-day politics with a physical reality of sickness and death on a scale we haven't seen for a very long time," Turnbull told the Policy Exchange audience.
"And so the question really is: why do so many people in government and so many people in politics - particularly in the Anglo sphere - not take the scientific evidence on climate change just as seriously?
More about this interview.
Banking imperatives for managing climate risk | McKinsey & Company
More than regulatory pressure is driving banks to manage climate risk. Financing a green agenda is also a commercial imperative—but specialized skills are needed to protect balance sheets.
Coronavirus: Lockdown extends Britain's longest run without coal since 1882 | Sky News
Why are investors not pricing in climate-change risk? | The Economist
COMPANIES ARE often quick to tout their green credentials. So are many of the sophisticated institutional investors who buy and sell their shares. Yet when it comes to pricing the risk of climate change, those investors may be falling short.
New research suggests that the risk of climatic disasters such as floods, storms and wildfires are not reflected in the price of equities around the world. What is more, when disasters do occur, the fall in share prices is modest.
How These Two Countries Could Doom Earth, According To UN Chief | Forbes
'Probably the worst year in a century': Australia's environmental toll of 2019 | The Guardian
Our war with the environment is leading to pandemics | The Conversation
They might sound unrelated, but the COVID-19 crisis and the climate and biodiversity crises are deeply connected.