Clean Investing is More Profitable
Recently I spoke with my colleague Ian Monroe, CEO of Oroeco, a startup that allows you to track the climate footprint of your purchases as a way of living more sustainably. What Ian told me about the current trend in investing is too good not to share.
Basically, more and more investment is happening through divestment from fossil fuels, that is, investors are moving away from fossil fuels, investing in renewable energy, AND making more profits! Now that’s a win-win if there ever was one!
Moreover, prominent institutions have come forward to discourage investment in fossil fuels, including Stanford University, citing a moral imperative, and the HSBC Bank, citing a lack of economic viability. Pope Francis is also urging Catholic investors to divest from fossil fuels, and the Guardian has recently published a simple how-to guide for divestment. Carbon Tracker has a database of articles on topics such as the decline of coal and discussions of coal as a stranded asset that poses a risk to investors. My last post about fossil fuels touched on Bill McKibben’s thoughts about how the world is shifting its position to favor distributed renewable energy systems.
Divestment is supported by research, and by the key findings of the Bonds and Climate Change: State of the Market 2015 report, which states that the climate-aligned bond market is worth 597.7 billion dollars.
No joke, people. If you’re looking to invest, divest from fossil fuels and go for clean energy: it’s the future, and it’s here now.
Clean and renewable energy is the future of smart investing and that future is happening right now.
I am grateful to Ian Monroe for talking with me about climate-aligned investing and sharing the resources that helped me to write this post. Stay tuned for more on this topic.