The banking approach to net zero is just claptrap by Stuart Kirk
Appeared in The Financial Times on November 11, 2022
Gina's Thoughts
"From the 2015 Paris Agreement emerged the idea that investors must play their part in the energy transition. From there came the concept of financed emissions -- that providing funds to a belcher of carbon is basically akin to polluting itself, and hence capital should have net zero targets too." As a result, 400 asset managers and owners that are responsible for about $70tn have rushed to join the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative and have promised to reduce financed emissions by some percentage by a particular date. Kirk, former Head of Responsible Investment at HSBC Asset Management, writes that these numbers and pledges are "hokum". The pledges do not save the planet, they are impossible to measure, they do not adhere to fiduciary duty and are pure virtue signalling.