ECONOMICS - Climate Change Resources

ECONOMICS

The economic implications of climate change are vast. This section focuses solely on what will happen if we do nothing, and what will happen if we do something. Of course, there is a great deal in between as we work our way to a renewable future.

We are also looking to share opportunities to wield influence to encourage action – for individuals, communities, financial organizations (such as pension funds) and corporations, including insurance companies.

Within this section, you will find information on investing and divesting to facilitate a green economy.

And, on another financial note, you may well find information on sustainable products (like boxed water instead of plastic) from time to time.

CURRENT NEWS

KEY RESOURCES

Gauging Economic Consensus on Climate Change – Issue Brief

We conducted a large-sample global survey on climate economics, which we sent to all economists who have published climate-related research in the field’s highest-ranked academic journals; 738 responded. To our knowledge, this is the largest-ever…

Climate Roadmap for U.S. Financial Regulation

The Biden Administration has taken office with an urgent climate mandate to act on climate and announced a “whole-of-government” approach in response.1 Because climate change threatens our financial system and, indeed, entire economy, the United…

Addressing Climate as a Systemic Risk: A call to action for U.S. financial regulators

This Ceres report outlines how and why U.S. financial regulators, who are responsible for protecting the stability and competitiveness of the U.S. economy, need to recognize and act on climate change as a systemic risk.

Moving To A Finite Earth Economy – Crew Manual

Moving To A Finite Earth Economy By 2030 Addresses Two Critical Human Issues: The Existential Threat Of Climate Change, And The Fact That Growth Economies Are The Root Cause.

MORE NEWS

Yale Climate Connections

Investors flee Big Oil as portfolios get drilled

By Karin Kirk Graphic: Karin Kirk, Yale Climate Connections 1/14/21

While climate advocates have long had science on their side, Big Oil has relied on leveraging its financial might and political clout to cast doubt on the practicality of moving the global economy away from…

Thomson Reuters Foundation news

Ocean 100: Profits from world’s seas dominated by 100 companies

By Umberto Bacchi 1/13/21

Just 100 companies account for most of the profits from the world’s seas, researchers said on Wednesday, calling on them to help save the oceans from over-fishing, rising temperatures and pollution. Together, the companies generated…

CNBC

As priorities shift, world’s largest cement firm inks $3.4 billion deal to focus on solar, green roofs

By Anmar Frangoul Photo: Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg/Getty Images 1/11/21

Cement maker LafargeHolcim has agreed to buy specialist roofing company Firestone Building Products for $3.4 billion, in the latest example of shifting priorities within the building industry.

The Washington Post

A record 22 billion-dollar disasters struck the U.S. in 2020

By Matthew Cappucci 1/9/21

The year 2020 will go down in the history books as one riddled with a record number of billion-dollar disasters. According to a new report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on…

Forbes

With Biden, The Whole Climate Will Change

Ken Silverstein Photo: Mark Makela/Getty Images 1/4/2021

During the Trump Administration, a dark cloud hung over the nation’s environmental movement and specifically any attempts to mitigate climate change. But the election of Joe Biden to the presidency will change that — certainly…

MIT Technology Review

The pandemic taught us how not to deal with climate change

By James Temple Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images 1/1/2020

We must transform the economy, not halt it, to prevent runaway warming. And we’re doing it far, far too slowly today.

NPR

It Wasn’t Just The Pandemic: Oil’s Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Year

By Camila Domonoske Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images 12/31/2020

Between hurricanes, geopolitical rivalries, irate investors and climate pressures, oil producers faced a host of challenges that weren’t created by the coronavirus — and can’t be cured with a vaccine.

Yale Climate Connections

‘How much will it cost to slow climate change?’

By Sara Peach 12/14/20

As a broadcast meteorologist, one of the most common questions I’m asked is the hardest one for me to answer! Some of my colleagues and friends understand that human-caused global warming is happening, but they…

CNBC

A $7 trillion climate change warning to the stock market from its biggest shareholder

By Eric Rosenbaum Photo by Jason Alden 12/13/20

The evidence of climate change — from global temperature records to Arctic ice melt, wildfires, hurricanes and flooding — is accelerating. So is investment pressure on corporations.

The New York Times

For Biden’s Economic Team, an Early Focus on Climate

By Jim Tankersley and Lisa Friedman 12/11/20

In announcing key economic advisers in the White House and the cabinet, the president-elect has emphasized action to boost clean energy and reduce emissions

The New Yorker

The Climate Crisis

Photo by Erik McGregor

In the meantime, however, most people need a bank and a credit card. As it happens, there are alternatives to the big players. Local credit unions are, in most cases, unconnected to the fossil-fuel industry.…

Triple Pundit

Why Business Should Back a Biden Climate Plan

By Kate Zerrenner 12/2/20

During the George W. Bush presidential administration, I worked for the Government Accountability Office. One project on which I worked was a look at the economic costs and benefits of the U.S. not taking action…

The Guardian

The ‘market’ won’t save us from climate disaster. We must rethink our system

By Robert S. Devine Photo by David Mc. New 11/19/2020

Though it sounds like a generic phrase, “market failure” is actually a technical term. It doesn’t refer to scams like insider trading or corporate fraud. A failure occurs when the marketplace allocates resources in a…

The Motley Fool

How These 5 Banks Are Fighting Climate Change

By Dana George Photo by Getty Images 10/17/20

Global warming may be the most pressing issue of the 21st century. Human activity, like chopping down forests, has raised average temperatures worldwide by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit since the 19th century. While that may not…

UC Davis

Natural Capital a Missing Piece in Climate Policy

By Kat Kerlin 9/28/20

Clean air, clean water and a functioning ecosystem are considered priceless. Yet the economic value of nature remains elusive in cost-benefit analysis of climate policy regulations and greenhouse-gas-reduction efforts.

GREENBIZ

This is why investors want financial regulators to tackle climate risk

By Ravi Varghese 8/24/20

To understand economic crises of the recent past, present and future, there may be no finer teacher than Michael Lewis. Many readers will be familiar with Lewis’s book “The Big Short,” which documented how excesses…

the New York Times

Stuck in the Past on the Climate

By Bill McKibben Photo by Chip Somodevilla 4/24/20

If you want to know why young people increasingly despair that the rest of us will leave them without a habitable world, consider the case of Lee Raymond.

State of the Planet

The Role of Finance in Achieving Sustainability

By Kelsie DeFrancia 4/17/20

Last month, the Earth Institute celebrated the publication of a new book and heard from panelists on the role of harnessing financial acumen to achieve long-run sustainability. …

Vox

A just and sustainable economic response to coronavirus, explained

By David Roberts Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images 3/25/20

After days of tense negotiations — and Democrats twice blocking the nearly $2 trillion package — the Senate and Treasury Department appear to have reached important compromises on legislation to shore up the economy. |…

the sarasota institute

Reinventing Capitalism

By Bob Leonard 2/13/20

Mankind is faced with a profound dilemma. To resist growth is to risk economic collapse. To continue to pursue growth relentlessly ensures collapse of our ecosystem which supports all life. For the most part, this…

the New Yorker

CAN WE HAVE PROSPERITY WITHOUT GROWTH?

By John Cassidy Photo by Till Lauer 2/3/20

In 1930, the English economist John Maynard Keynes took a break from writing about the problems of the interwar economy and indulged in a bit of futurology. In an essay entitled “Economic Possibilities for Our…

THE New York TIMES

Climate Change Could Blow Up the Economy. Banks Aren’t Ready

By Jack Ewing Photo by Matthew Abbott 1/23/20

Climate change has already been blamed for deadly bush fires in Australia, withering coral reefs, rising sea levels and ever more cataclysmic storms. Could it also cause the next financial crisis?

Economic heavyweights highlight climate risks

Economic heavyweights highlight climate risks By Jonathan Marshall, CCL Economics Policy Network Whatever you think of billionaires, it’s almost always better to have them on your side rather than as foes. That’s why news from…

Reuters

Warren calls on big U.S. banks for steps on climate risk

By Ann Saphir and Lindsay Dunsmuir Photo: Brian Snyder/REUTERS 1/22/20

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a contender for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, is asking the biggest U.S. banks for details on their assessments of and preparations for risks related to global…

ABC NEWS

Climate change and economic inequality loom large as the powerful descend on Davos

By Catherine Thorbecke Photo by Denis Balibouse 1/21/20

The world’s political and economic elite are descending on the small Swiss Alps town of Davos this week for the annual World Economic Forum meeting where they hope to set this year’s “global, regional and…

Bloomberg

Here’s What Putting $10,000 in These Assets Would Have Returned in 2019

By Gregor Stuart Hunter and Eric Lam 12/29/19

In 2018, seemingly every asset class was a loser. In 2019 it’s been the reverse, with opportunities abounding — and some of the biggest winners have come from unexpected corners of the market.

Resources for the future

Social Cost of Carbon 101

By Kevin Rennert and Cora Kingdon 8/1/19

The social cost of carbon (SCC) is an estimate, in dollars, of the economic damages that would result from emitting one additional ton of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The SCC puts the effects of…

Why Climate Change Hurts the Poor the Most

By Mallika Khanna If you’ve read anything about climate change over the past year, you’ve probably heard about the IPCC report that gives a 12-year deadline for limiting climate change catastrophe. But for many parts…

Climate Crocks

Climate Adaptation, but Only for the Rich

By Peter Sinclair 3/21/19

In November, as wildfires ripped through California, Kim Kardashian hired a squad of private firefighters to protect her $50m estate in Calabasas. During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Blackwater security guards defended the houses…

bloomberg

Climate Challenge Will Be Harder Than It Seems, JPMorgan Executive Warns

By Christopher Flavelle Photo by Carla Gottgens 03/20/2019

The world isn’t cutting carbon emissions anywhere near quickly enough, a senior executive at J.P. Morgan Asset Management told clients this week — and changing that will require far harder choices than most people realize.

The New Yorker

The False Choice Between Economic Growth and Combatting Climate Change

By Carolyn Kormann 04/02/19

In 1974, the economist William Nordhaus described the transition from a “cowboy economy” to a “spaceship economy.” In the former, he wrote, “we could afford to use our resources profligately,” and “the environment could be…

The New Yorker

The False Choice Between Economic Growth and Combatting Climate Change

By Carolyn Kormann Photo: Fernando Moleres / Panos Pictures / Redux 2/4/19

Medium

The Economics of Climate Change Explained

By Brayden Gerrard 1/21/19

Climate change is well known for its destructive impacts — ranging from rising sea levels to more fierce natural disasters.

Wired

Bitcoin Will Burn the Planet Down. The Question: How Fast?

By Adam Rogers 11/5/18

Max Krause was thinking of buying some bitcoin, as one does. But Krause is an engineer—mostly he works on modeling greenhouse gas emissions from landfills—so his first step was to run the numbers.

Bloomberg

Pension Funds Point Finger at Lobbyists of Polluting Companies

By Anna Hirtenstein Photo: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg 28/10/18

A group of pension funds that control $2 trillion are pushing for 55 large European energy, mining and transportation companies to scale back their anti-climate lobbying.

Axios

Where climate change will hit the U.S. hardest

By Eileen Drage O'Reilly and Alison Snyder 23/06/18

Left unmitigated, rising temperatures from climate change will increase inequality and mortality rates in the U.S. by the end of the 21st century, a team of economists and climate scientists warn in astudy published today. It’s…