Bat shit crazy. Climate change is a result of racism. WTF!!! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...climate-crisis-relaunches-Green-New-Deal.html AOC now blames 'racial injustice' for the climate crisis as she relaunches her Green New Deal Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday relaunched the 2019 climate change plan She told reporters on Capitol Hill climate change was a result of racial policy
I think I'll go out today and buy that Mercedes S550 with the V8 to counter balance this. President Biden calls for 50% reduction in US greenhouse gas emissions at climate summit https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ction-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions/7307038002/ President Joe Biden pledged to cut U.S. greenhouse gas pollution in half by 2030 at a virtual climate summit Thursday, outlining an aggressive target that would require sweeping changes to America's energy and transportation sectors. "These steps will set America on a path of a net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050," Biden said as the White House opened the two-day summit, attended by 40 leaders from around the world. "Scientists tell us that this is the decisive decade, this is the decade we must make decisions that will avoid the worst consequences of a climate crisis," Biden said. The White House's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 52% percent, from a baseline of 2005 emissions, is nearly double the target set by Obama administration in 2015. An administration official who briefed reporters ahead of Thursday's summit did not detail how the White House plans to achieve the 50% reduction in emissions. The briefing was conducted on the condition of anonymity. "We see multiple paths to reaching this goal," the official said, noting, for example, that Biden has pledged to make the U.S. power sector 100% carbon-pollution free by 2035. The virtual summit is aimed at renewing America's leadership on climate change and rallying other world leaders to set their own aggressive targets. Pope Francis and Bill Gates are among the featured speakers. In his opening remarks, Biden noted the U.S. represents less than 50% of the world's emissions. "No nation can solve this crisis on our own," he said. "All of us, and particularly those of us who represent the world's largest economies, we have to step up." A second administration official said the White House expects other world leaders to follow Biden's announcement with their own new commitments for combating climate change. "We were looking for people to make announcements, to raise their ambition, to indicate next steps that they intend to be taking to help solve the climate problem," the official said. The summit will stretch over two days and will include sessions on financing, innovation and other topics. But Biden's climate change agenda faces obstacles at home and abroad. Republicans have vowed to fight his proposals that shift the U.S. energy sector away from coal and other fossil fuels in favor of renewable energy. Meanwhile, U.S. allies and adversaries have raised questions about whether Biden's policies will outlast his presidency, given the Trump administration's rollback of U.S. climate change policies. A top Chinese government spokesman recently belittled Biden's return to the Paris climate agreement, which former President Donald Trump jettisoned, and said Trump created a "mess" by unraveling dozens of previous U.S. environmental policies. "The U.S. chose to come and go as it likes with regard to the Paris Agreement," Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, said at an April 16 press conference. "Its return is by no means a glorious comeback but rather the student playing truant getting back to class," he said, adding that Biden has yet to say "how it plans to make up for the lost four years." The White House has pushed back on the questions and skepticism by emphasizing that even as Trump disengaged on climate change, many states and cities across the U.S., along with private companies, continued to adopt climate-friendly policies, the administration official said. The United States is the second-largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2), producing about 5.41 billion metric tons in 2018. China emits nearly twice that amount. Experts say the world's major economies need to dramatically scale back their carbon emissions to limit the rise of average global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. Although the U.S. and other countries are already seeing the impacts of global warming through more extreme weather events, scientists say the effects will become catastrophic and irreversible if the planet's temperatures exceed the 1.5 degree threshold. Biden has pledged to be the most aggressive president on climate change, setting a goal of de-carbonizing the U.S. power sector by 2035 and reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. He has already taken several steps to address climate change, such as pausing oil drilling on public lands and halting construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. "The Biden-Harris administration will do more than any in history to meet our climate crisis," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday in a speech previewing this week's summit. "This is already an all-hands-on-deck effort across our government and across our nation. Our future depends on the choices we make today." But Biden's steps so far, and his promise to do more, have already unleashed a torrent of criticism from Republicans who argue that his climate policies will hurt American businesses, cost U.S. jobs and raise energy prices for families. In his speech on Monday, Blinken said that climate change should be viewed not only as a threat but also an opportunity – to create new clean-energy jobs, to build a healthier society and to regain a competitive edge against China. "It’s difficult to imagine the United States winning the long-term strategic competition with China if we cannot lead the renewable energy revolution," he said. "Right now, we’re falling behind." He noted that China holds nearly a third of the world’s renewable energy patents and is the largest producer and exporter of solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and other innovations. "If we don’t catch up, America will miss the chance to shape the world’s climate future in a way that reflects our interests and values, and we’ll lose out on countless jobs for the American people," Blinken said.
Pledging to go green doesn't just help corporate brands. It boosts stocks By Matt Egan, CNN Business Updated 2:11 PM ET, Thu April 22, 2021 New York (CNN Business) Net zero pledges have become all the rage in Corporate America. Big banks, steel companies and even (mostly European) oil companies are pledging to wipe out their carbon emissions over time. Cynics may see these environmental announcements as mere marketing ploys designed to win brownie points from climate-nervous consumers. But there may be another force at play: keeping Wall Street happy. New research suggests that investors really do care about these climate goals and crave transparency about the carbon footprints of the companies they back. That's especially true in the dirtiest sectors: energy, utilities and industrials. While those three sectors make up less than 15% of the S&P 500's market value, they account for a staggering 70% of direct and indirect emissions, according to Bank of America. And within those heavy emitting sectors, the companies that have set net zero target dates trade at a "significant premium" to those that have not, Bank of America found. The average 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio for companies that have a set timeline for achieving carbon neutrality is 32.4. But that closely-watched valuation metric plummets to 20.3 for companies with no emissions targets. "It pays to set a date," Bank of America concluded. Alaska Airlines and US Steel join the net zero parade And now companies are increasingly doing just that. US Steel (X)pledged Wednesday to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 by using electric arc furnaces, carbon-free energy sources and carbon capture techniques. Visa (V), Pepsi (PEP), Heineken (HEINY), Alaska Airlines (ALK) and 49 other companies this week signed on to Amazon's Climate Pledge, promising to achieve net-zero carbon by 2040 or sooner. Companies that have signed the pledge generate more than $1.4 trillion in annual sales and employ more than 5 million workers. Even the oil industry is on board, with European leaders BP, Total and Royal Dutch Shell announcing net zero targets last year as they embrace a shift to cleaner energy. Most US oil companies, by contrast, have taken a much more cautious approach, preferring to focus instead on carbon capture technology. Neither ExxonMobil (XOM) nor Chevron (CVX), the largest US oil companies, have announced net zero goals. "It's easier to justify owning a stock that has a plan to get better than to own a stock that emits a lot and doesn't have a publicly-stated plan," Savita Subramanian, Bank of America's head of US equity strategy and head of global ESG research, told CNN Business. 'They understand this is real' Moreover, net zero goals may be viewed as a proxy for good management -- quality leadership that guides companies through not just climate disruption but the everyday crises that confront CEOs. "If companies' quality of management is high, they understand this is real and these regulations are coming," said Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research. "Good management gets ahead of the curve." Not surprisingly, utilities are among the biggest polluters as most still rely on coal-fired power plants to keep the lights on. Interestingly, Bank of America found that half of all S&P 500 utilities have committed to carbon neutrality, more than any other sector. Xcel Energy, PSEG, Duke Energy and other power companies have promised by 2050 to zero out their emissions by retiring coal plants and rapidly building out their wind and solar capabilities. 'Transparency is paramount' In recent years, Wall Street has begun penalizing companies viewed as part of the climate problem -- and rewarding those that are part of the solution. Tesla (TSLA) is now one of the world's most valuable companies and solar stocks have skyrocketed, while oil-and-gas firms have badly lagged behind. Last year, ExxonMobil was briefly dethroned as America's most valuable energy company by wind and solar giant NextEra Energy. (NEE) Companies with relatively high emissions trade at a 15% discount to companies with low emissions, Bank of America found. S&P 500 companies with below median emissions sport a median price-to-book value of 5.1, compared with 4.3 for firms with high emissions. But what is really telling is that companies that don't disclose their carbon footprints are valued even less, trading at a median price-to-book of just 4.2, Bank of America said. "Saying something bad is better than saying nothing," the report said. Under pressure from shareholders, firms have begun to open up about their carbon footprints. The vast majority -- 90% -- of S&P 500 companies now release sustainability reports, according to Bank of America. That's up from just 20% a decade ago. "Transparency is paramount," Subramanian said. "If you don't provide transparency, investors will assume the worst and ding you for it." ESG 2.0 All of this shows the evolution in thinking around environmental risks on Wall Street. During the early years of the ESG movement, environmentally-conscious investors simply dumped high-emissions stocks and piled into clean energy ones. But that trade has become crowded. Green companies now trade at a nearly 30% premium to brown ones, Subramanian said, adding that these are "quite extreme levels." "That story is arguably already in the stocks," she said. "Now it's all about looking for companies that might not look great today, but will be in a better place in the future." https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/22/investing/net-zero-pledge-companies-stocks/index.html