Punish Companies Who Downplay Climate Risk!
By Paul Homewood
LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) – Some of Britain’s top listed companies could be downplaying risks from climate change on their bottom line and could face "appropriate action", regulators said on Friday.
Trillions of dollars have flowed into stocks and bonds of companies which tout their environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials, leaving regulators worried about "greenwashing" or companies flattering their green profile to attract investments.
Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange’s premium market have been required since 2021 to make climate-related disclosures to investors in line with the global Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) – or to explain why they have not.
You know it’s a religion when they try to ban dissent.
The whole idea anyway that most UK companies will suffer losses because of global warming are absurd.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
This isn’t ‘religion’ its part of the ongoing financialisation of everything. ESG is the latest component of the hollowing out of the economy for rentiers. Companies have to pay their dues or else.
Agree 100%. A leading Fund management company offering a Global Fund, following a prestated and much trumpeted ESG philosophy, and used by UK so called “Wealth Managers” – on inspection by a sceptic reveals the ESG guidelines to be virtue signalling of the most egregious kind. Some difficult questions about the criteria for “Governance” are embarrassingly unanswerable by the Fund management company and guess what; Pfizer, J&JJ and Moderna US common Stock are held by their fund. Aside from the CV19 scam, how is it that a company with the dubious record of paying massive, multi billion dollar fines, escapes “governance” scrutiny?
Not a lot of people know that climate & anti-climate journalists from Reuters to The Heartland Institute peruse The Climate Wars blog
https://vvattsupwiththat.blogspot.com/2022/07/bloomberg-climate-creatives-take-page.html
One of the unintended consqueunces is here in the News today. Revealed after a Freedom of Information Request, Toyota have threatened to close UK operations if the Government ban Hybrids as they have promised to do.
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/toyota-warns-government-may-stop-190000191.html
ALL the manufacturers should have threatened to close (or actually closed) factories long ago when the attacks on petrol and diesel let alone hybrids started.
I have a close relative who works in automotive design for a large international car manufacturer. Apparently word on the inside is that manufacturers really are starting to take issues with governments and politicians. Japanese and Korean manufacturers are especially anti the all BEV moves and definitely will pull out if unhappy. They know there are much bigger expanding markets that are not so fussy.
Losses incurred from extreme weather have been a problem long before global warming (nka) climate change was the imminent threat. And reducing CO2 emissions would make the losses even worse with shortages of fuels for transportation to get out of harm’s way the threat. .
And . . . U.S. reduction of wildfires by tens of millions of acres a year is enabled by the good ol’ internal combustion engine. Without trucks, we couldn’t manage the forests nor fight fires.
Why does (nearly?) every BBC report on weather or NATURAL DISASTERS include the line:-
“Climate scientists/experts say climate change is…….”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-62351166.amp
https://www.britishpathe.com/search/query/Kentucky+flood
Those attributions (mostly) keep them out of court.
Further, anyone can claim to be an expert or is claimed to be by someone else.
It also forms part of their response to complaints about content of programmes and website.
“We’re only quoting scientists and they all agree”
Because the masses have to be bombarded with the doom propaganda daily, of course. The worst products need the most advertising.
Yes spot on, the weakest most unconvincing argument has to be shouted the loudest and longest.
Kentucky flood disaster July 1939.
https://www.weather.gov/jkl/frozenflood1939
Check where the BBC pension funds are invested….follow the money as ever.
The risk of climate change is 100%, the risk of significant CO2 induced change virtually nil. But that doesn’t matter, lets make it as difficult as possible for UK companies to do business and compete in world markets. We are led by a load of donkeys.
That’s an insult to donkeys Ian..
The whole ‘Net Zero’ system is about ‘Appearances’ . . . NOT the clean up of pollution. We take industries that ‘Appear Clean’ by ignoring their implicit ‘Embodied Energy’ and allow them to sell ‘Carbon Credits’, also known as ‘Carbon Allowances’, that work like ‘Permission Slips’ for companies that Pollute Excessively.
Then these ‘Excess Polluters’ who buy ‘Carbon Offsets’ get to continue polluting, unabated without spending a single dime on removing the REAL pollution going up their smokestacks . . .
This is a game of ‘slight of hand’, a ‘Magician’s Trick’, trading 4 quarters for a dollar . . . when it comes to cleaning up the Air we Breath or the Water we Drink . . . It LOOKS amazing . . . on paper . . . while in practice . . . It improves NOTHING . . . it is no better than moving the deck chairs on the Titanic from one side of the deck to the other . . . hoping that the list will be corrected . . .
Net Zero . . . is a 1 Trillion $$ per year Fraud . . . perpetrated on the well-intentioned masses around the world by the Scientific Ignorance of Environmentalists intent on destroying the Fossil Fuel industry.
What Planet Earth needs is Scrubbers and Electrostatic Precipitators and Nitrous Oxide Burners on EVERY smokestack NOW . . . Oops . . . that would mean that Environmentalists would have to ‘Crawl into bed’ with the dreaded fossil fuel industry and Industrialists to implement systems that Actually Work at cleaning up the Planet. These systems remove up to 97% of the ‘Foul Effluent’ coming from the smokestacks . . .
Oh My . . . Actual Clean-Up . . . No No No . . . We must destroy them all . . . We won’t need the clean-up . . . They will all be gone . . . no need . . .
Environmentalists have a Magic Trick . . . ‘Net Zero’ . . . let’s try that . . . Our Buddies in the ‘Clean Green’ energy world will help us sell that and they will get rich at the same time . . . Elon Musk Anyone ??
Oh . . . The Media doesn’t understand Science either . . . ‘They will help us sell this’ . . . Good! . . . Well Done!
Complete Madness . . . the innocent masses continue to suffer the world over . . . buried in smog and real pollution . . . because REAL solutions are NOT advocated . . .
For the ‘Honest Report’ please read the following paper . . . The Devil is in the Details . . .
https://www.allaboutenergy.net/270-energy/today/multiple-energy-types/world/3208-clean-green-energy-net-zero-fairy-tales-on-steroids?highlight=WyJqaW0iLCJsZSIsIm1haXN0cmUiLCJqaW0gbGUiLCJqaW0gbGUgbWFpc3RyZSIsImxlIG1haXN0cmUiXQ==
Education about ‘Real Pollution’ is what we ALL need . . . Not Hyperbole !
To understand this madness do read this excellent essay by Paul Kingsnorth on why western society is in the throes of its cultural death: https://unherd.com/?p=439130?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups%5B0%5D=18743&tl_period_type=3&mc_cid=9eaa01ea6e&mc_eid=1eb4f2a0ea.
ESG…..Extremely Stupid Guidelines. These rules are just another tool to destroy our economies, I never subscribed to the theory that the climate change scam was a WEF and elites plan to deprive the masses from owning or doing anything, I was convinced it was a making money scam for the likes of Gore, Soros, Grantham and a job for life for the climate change fearmongers with huge grants and research budgets. Now with these financial burdens, the recent push to eliminate synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, the complete fear of taking any risks and locking us down for months together with the relentless climate heating scam, it looks like a multiple attack on our freedoms. But who is the enemy, my bet is on China with the elites on a promise of vast riches.
It’s always the ‘riches’.
Money doesn’t talk, it swears. (Bob Dylan)
The Climate Change Committee and all who enjoy its support are simply after chasing or maintaining power. A very worrying trend which needs to be stamped out.
We are edging toward ‘the end times’ that the Bible speaks about.
Strangely Up2, I as an agnostic at best have had similar thoughts recently.
The world is now in an unsolvable mess. I have often said in a heartbeat that I would live my life over again. Just not the next 80 years thank you.
You’ll appreciate this:
JF
Gotta love the black steam in the picture. Must be coal fired (sarc). If you do a Google Images search on “belching smoke stacks” this is a whole genre. My favorites are nuke cooling towers.
Yes . . . and then the whole ‘Net Zero’ Scam does absolutely NOTHING to change any of that!
Right. One only has to note the gap from the top of the tower (stack ?) and realize that distance is what it takes for the vapor to condense and be seen. Unless your name is Greta, you won’t see the CO2.
In the USA, that is taught in a 9th grade (14 & 15 year olds) science class.
“…taught…”
But has it been learned?
It is a simple fact that most children come into school with ingrained, incorrect, ideas about how the physical world works;
and leave with the same ideas. Even if they momentarily grasp reality, the facts are too colourless, and the the theories are too abstract, for them to retain it. As soon as the pedagogic cat is away the mice of stupidity come out to play. Thinking simply hurts too much.
I have found that this process of ‘knowledge bleaching’ applies even to the well educated. It is especially dangerous there, because these people are usually completely unaware that, ten years after passing their exams with high marks, they no longer know anything. And what they think they know – ain’t so!
Unless I am very much mistaken, the photo is the Cemex Cement Factory in Rugby. Somewhat ironically it does not use fossil fuels.
https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/news/cemex-opens-new-non-fossil-fuelled-facility-in-uk/#:~:text=CEMEX%20has%20officially%20opened%20its,operating%20100%25%20on%20alternative%20fuels.
Another load of “teenie greenie” tosh – how much fossil fuel does it take to produce the waste????
Crowcatcher PERMALINK
August 1, 2022 6:28 am
“Another load of “teenie greenie” tosh – how much fossil fuel does it take to produce the waste????”
Very good point, Crowcatcher! Household and business waste is just one remove from the fossil fuel that created it. HOWEVER, that is no reason not to USE this useful source of energy. Europe, that Green Nirvana and home to all that is Green and Good, actually burns far more of its waste than the UK does in creating local heat and power systems. Why is the UK so anti incineration? It is very “clean” these days, or so I understand. And it could save unnecessary landfill waste disposal – though there is nothing intrinsically wrong with landfill in itself, either, IMHO.
Why does the UK so often turn solutions into problems?
Among the demands they made a couple of months back was that aid should be restored to 0.7% of GDP. A purely political demand with no mention of how it should be spent, and therefore nothing to do with climate change. .
Governments may face action if they impose bad climate policies. See Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Canada, etc.
More useful to stop companies promoting the scaremongering. Look at recent adverts on the UK television channels
Well BBC CountryFile just managed to mention climate change in the first few seconds, yet again.
“Punish Companies Who Downplay Climate Risk!”
What a great idea.
Naturally, the corollary is “Punish Organisations, Companies, NGOs and Charities Who Overplay Climate Risk”
BBC for starters. Make its management personally financially responsible for its errors & exaggerations.
That’s not smoke in the photo!
“That’s not smoke in the photo!” It is the exhaust from the Cemex Cement factory in Rugby and it sure as hell is not water vapour.
https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/news/cemex-opens-new-non-fossil-fuelled-facility-in-uk/#:~:text=CEMEX%20has%20officially%20opened%20its,operating%20100%25%20on%20alternative%20fuels.
From The Chemical Engineer’s article:
So at that plant, FFs may still supply 30% of its needs by the end of this year.
Cemex’s own press release admits:
“Investment aims to eliminate fossil fuel usage ….” Translation: It doesn’t actually eliminate fossil fuel usage.
https://www.cemex.com/-/cemex-to-operate-fully-on-alternative-fuels-at-uk-cement-plant
In response to Joe Public, the point I am making is that it is not water vapour despite what other posters on here may (completely wrongly) be trying to claim it is. How many people actually knew the site, where it is and what was going up the flue pipe? Claiming it is a cooling tower of some sort is complete bunkum and I am incredibly surprised at the confirmation bias of some of the regular posters who seem to think that – notably David Wojick – who notably loses credibility by trying to claim it is.
The UK is not a safe place to invest,
cos Mafia families control the government
The WEF Green mafia famiies have infiltrated all 6 UK socialist parties Blue, red, Yellow, Orange, Plaid, Green
If you run any legitimate business in the UK
you have the risk of government’s changing the rules on you and favouring your GreenBlob competitors
And other indirect green policies raise the cost of your energy and inputs
.. but which are the alternatives safer countries ?
Most of Europe is Green Mafia, the rest of the world is mostly other mafia
Perhaps Texas and Florida are safer tho the rest of the US is under Democrat mafia
I wish companies would detail the increased costs of electricity, energy and for regulatory compliance because of “climate” policies.
If I was writing the risks section I’d say:
1. Substantial risk of unaffordable energy costs due to absurd climate policies.
2. Substantial risk of interrupted energy supply due to absurd climate policies.
3. Substantial risk of higher compliance costs due to absurd climate policies.
4. Substantial risk of lower revenues due to a reduction in customers discretionary spend caused by absurd climate policies.
5. No quantifiable risk from climate change as any costs are not forecast to appear until after 2050.
#1. . . Ohm’s Law . . . resistance . . . an average of 15% of electricity produced is lost as Heat between production and the consumer . . . for every 100 units of energy consumed . . . !
115 units Must be produced . . . 15% is wasted . . . add another 16% if you are charging an Electric Car or 131 units of production . . . Electricity is only good for ‘Basic household or business Needs’. Beyond that energy production at point of consumption is the ONLY way to save energy ! ALL other uses of Electricity . . . INCREASES the consumption of Fossil Fuels Somewhere !
All Electricity Pollutes . . . Somewhere. . . somehow !
https://www.allaboutenergy.net/270-energy/today/multiple-energy-types/world/3278-all-electricity-pollutes?highlight=WyJqaW0iLCJsZSIsIm1haXN0cmUiLCJqaW0gbGUiLCJqaW0gbGUgbWFpc3RyZSIsImxlIG1haXN0cmUiXQ==
And also publish the tax element of the actual price at point of sale. Petrol and diesel are obvious but not the only ones where the tax causes at least doubling/tripling of the price to consumers.
This is such nonsense.
1. Investors are big boys and girls. They don’t some regulator forcing companies to write a few lines.
2. As the chap from HSBC pointed out, any costs are way in the future. Their discounted value today is zero.
3. If there are any costs, they are already in the price.
This is about regulators charged with “doing something” about climate change hectoring businesses. Its truly pathetic. And it costs businesses money which they charge us for. When we have a cost of living crisis.
One of the problems with fascist control, or any control, is the controllers get drunk with power.
‘and could face “appropriate action”, regulators said’
This is just a stupid blunder by those in power. But understand, it is a symptom, not the problem. The solution is to get rid of said regulators. As long as you have regulators, you will have stupid blunders.
Look what happened to the HSBC guy who told the truth. If only companies reported the truth and that is that governments half-baked Net Zero is the biggest threat to their futures and not a bit of warmer weather…possibly.
Currently blackout-news is not updating in English but translation sites are available to show the car crash that is Germany. Munich has joined Hanover in turning off the hot water in public buildings, turning off the fountains and floodlights. The Oktoberfest may be cancelled again and breweries deemed not an essential industry so subject to suspension. BASF has reduced ammonia production due to costs. And yet if they act now the nuclear plants could be running in time.
“The Oktoberfest may be cancelled again and breweries deemed not an essential industry”
That’s crazy talk!
The problem for Germany is that having sold themselves on wind and solar, spurned nuclear, there is mainly gas left for electricity generation. But the gas is also used for heating homes and by industries such as brewing. The priority will be to keep the domestic gas pipes full to avoid any air getting in so industry will have to shut down. And to make matters worse, electric heaters are selling in huge numbers such that the grid will have problems if they are all used. And this is all without the rising cost of gas.
Now . . . With wind and solar they are beholdn’ to China . . . Go Figure . . . Madness at every turn . . .
Governments are determined to provide its “necessary” rather than the fault of their stupidity. 22st century humans are far too passive to do anything about it.