| | In his annual letter to corporate executives, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink issued his strongest warning yet about the climate crisis, pronouncing that the financial behemoth will take steps to address the issue across the thousands of companies in which it invests. "Climate change has become a defining factor in companies' long-term prospects," Fink wrote. "Awareness is rapidly changing, and I believe we are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance." Protesters have been trailing Fink to work, speaking engagements and formal events, decrying BlackRock for inaction on global warming. Other critics have warned that such statements are just greenwashing by Wall Street firms. —Josh Petri A quick reader's note on some exciting news: Starting next week, Climate Changed becomes part of a new daily climate newsletter from Bloomberg. You'll get the latest on critical scientific, financial and technological developments all week long, including this wrap up of the biggest climate news every Friday. You can unsubscribe at any point or modify your email preferences on your account page. | | | | "It's notable that in the third year of the Trump presidency, which has not been particularly supportive of renewables, U.S. clean energy investment set a new record by a country mile." | —Ethan Zindler, head of Americas for BloombergNEF. Global money flowing into the industry totaled $282.2 billion last year, up 1% from 2018. | | | | | | Top stories | | Behind Fink's new sustainable-investing push lies an inconvenient truth: going green won't be easy or quick. BlackRock holds a 6.7% stake in Exxon Mobil as well as 6.9% in Chevron and 6% in Glencore. Mark Gilbert explains in Bloomberg Opinion why that's unlikely to change: namely, BlackRock has a passive investing problem. Meanwhile, the planet is warming faster than at any time in the history of civilization. Last year was the second hottest in recorded history, capping the hottest decade in 140 years of data. Natural gas was once lauded as a "bridge fuel"—a substitute for dirtier fossil fuels until renewables take over. Unfortunately, it incentivized a massive buildout of infrastructure in the U.S. that could increase carbon emissions by half a billion metric tons a year at a time when experts warn climate change requires a dramatic move towards lower-carbon energy sources. James Murdoch publicly criticized false and misleading coverage of Australia's catastrophic wildfires by right-wing media outlets, including those owned by his father, Rupert Murdoch. Dozens are dead and more than one billion animals estimated wiped out in the ongoing disaster.  Are there more pressing climate concerns than those of the ski industry? Of course. That doesn't change the fact that global warming is killing Alpine skiing as we know it. | | | | | What we've been reading. | | Microsoft announced it plans to make itself carbon neutral by 2030—ten years sooner than its rival Amazon has promised—and invest $1 billion over the next four years in carbon removal technology. | Most Europeans, Chinese and U.S. citizens plan to fly less this year to limit aircraft emissions and help slow the advance of global warming, according to a new survey. Two-thirds of people in those groups think their individual behavior can help tackle the problem. | The U.S. has become terrible at building big things, and negligent in maintaining existing infrastructure, James Temple writes in MIT Technology Review. To survive, he argues, the nation must learn to complete large projects on-budget and on-schedule. | | |
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