July 23, 2022 - Energy crisis prompts ESG rethink on oil and gas

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July 23, 2022

Energy crisis prompts ESG rethink on oil and gas by Chris Flood
Appeared in The Financial Times on July 18, 2022

Gina's Thoughts

"Governments and companies are scrambling to balance their green ambitions with the new imperatives of energy security. The conflict in Ukraine has prompted discussion about the role of oil and gas producers in investors' portfolios." In the face of an energy crisis, ESG investors are starting to look more favourably on energy companies. "We believe (some) ESG funds are revisiting the cost of exclusion (of energy companies) given their underperformance in the first half of 2022," says an ESG strategist at BofA. The cost of exclusion (otherwise known as divestment) is now tangible and measurable, so ESG investors/funds are trying to flip the story by saying it is now ESG-friendly to invest in oil and gas companies because these companies have been investing in new emissions-reducing technologies since 2015. This is what InvestNow has been saying all along. Investment in Canadian oil and gas companies does more to reduce emissions than divestment. Investment in Canadian oil and gas companies helps everyday Canadians, Canada and the world.

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