The climate revolution is already here

As regular readers may know, I do a lot of writing on sustainability and climate change for a unique Canadian magazine called Corporate Knights. I am proud to be associated with the world’s flagship magazine of “Clean Capitalism.”

This is an exciting time to be writing about business and sustainability. Right now, we are at the tipping point for renewable energy the clean energy transition. As I wrote in a story earlier this month:

 “A new report from climate statisticians at BloombergNEF (BNEF) says global investment in the low-carbon energy transition totalled a record $1.11 trillion (all figures in U.S. dollars) in 2022 – up 31% in a year. For the first time, global investment in green energy technologies – such as renewable energy, electrified transport and energy storage – has reached parity with the total capital deployed to produce new fossil fuels.

 “Report author Albert Cheung raved about the results, saying, “Our findings put to bed any debate about how the energy crisis will impact clean energy deployment. Investment in clean energy technologies is on the brink of overtaking fossil fuel investments, and won’t look back.”

The best part is, the clean energy transition will not just cut carbon emissions that are choking our planet. It will result in cleaner, greener cities, better health, and lower energy costs.

All we have to do is slap down the oil companies, who are determined to stymie and delay the energy transition until they have sold every ounce of their oil and gas reserves – a prospect that would cook our planet to life-threatening levels.

This week, I had three key stories on the Corporate Knights home page chronicling key aspects of this business/lifestyle revolution.

Companies that invest the most in green growth earn triple the returns

This story chronicled new research that indicates the best stock market returns come from companies actively embracing the clean-energy transition. Corporate Knights’s Sustainable Economy Intelligence database tracks more than 2800 public companies, based on the percentage of revenues and spending they derive from the green economy. In the most recent three-year period, the companies in the SEI’s top 20% outperformed the most prominent index of global companies, the MSCI All-World Index, by a factor of three to one.

Canadian pension funds are starting to embrace the green transition

A new report finds that pension funds’ support for the green transition is growing, but still nowhere near the pace required to meet Canada’s global net-zero- targets. The second annual Canadian Pensions Dashboard for Responsible Investing identifies the latest progress inside the sector, whose investment clout must fuel this transition. 

Insurance industry failing to warn clients of climate risks

The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) says that due to the increase in extreme weather events driven by climate change, Canada is increasingly becoming “a riskier place to live, work and insure.” Translation: Prepare to pay more for property insurance. But I wrote that insurers aren’t doing much to warn Canadians about these impending risks. “We have to do a much better job of elevating this issue,” says IBC VP Craig Stewart.