Since the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, HSBC has poured over $110bn into fossil fuel firms and projects.
Valuations of fossil fuel companies include the oil, gas & coal resources they’ve claimed for future exploitation. To comply with the Paris Agreement, most of these must stay in the ground; Mark Carney (former Governor of the Bank of England) termed them ‘stranded assets’.
The metaphor is compelling, but curiously at odds with the reality of sea-level rise and flooding caused by investing in fossil fuels.
The companies, the banks and the public are slowly realising that fossil fuel investment is not only stoking climate change but is also a bad commercial decision.
What are stranded assets? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAWLyXkKiNY
Read more about the banks https://www.ran.org/bankingonclimatechaos2021/