Big Business Says It Will Tackle Climate Change, but Not How or When

The pledges were the latest in a string of climate-related announcements in recent weeks.

BlackRock, the world’s largest institutional investor, said it would place climate change at the center of its investment strategy. Microsoft said it would not only go carbon negative — reducing more greenhouse gases than it adds to the environment — but also somehow remove all the emissions the company has ever produced. Lloyds, the British financial group, pledged to cut by “more than 50 percent” the carbon emissions generated by the projects it finances by 2030.

Larry Fink, BlackRock’s chief executive, showed up to meetings wearing a wool scarf that represented the decades of warming since the industrial age, a Christmas present from a nonprofit organization that works on climate issues.

“I’ve never seen a social issue explode like this,” said Paul Tudor Jones II, the investor and founder of Just Capital, which ranks companies based on sustainability factors. “Every single C.E.O. and board is having to figure out what their carbon footprint is and what they’re going to do about it.”

Behind this flurry of corporate commitments is a growing concern about tangible risks to the bottom line, including the prospect that ratings agencies will factor in climate risk, pressure from younger employees, changing consumer preferences and government regulations like a carbon tax.

Extreme weather events are already causing economic havoc. The California wildfires last year were estimated to have caused $25.4 billion in damage. Pacific Gas Electric, the largest energy producer in the state, has filed for bankruptcy.

Jesper Brodin, the chief executive of Ikea, said his company was already feeling the impact. Severe flooding in the United States temporarily closed many of its stores. Energy prices in Sweden skyrocketed during a recent heat wave. Fires in Australia have disrupted business there.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/business/corporate-climate-davos.html?emc=rss&partner=rss