$5.5 trillion or $800 for each human on this Earth has been dumped into the fossil fuel money pit.
Will most of that money never come back out, now that
solar stocks are skyrocketing
and
foundations are banding together to dump fossil fuel stocks?
Why should we let Spectra Energy and NextEra gouge a methane pipeline
through our lands for their bad investment?
Kumi Naidoo wrote for EcoWatch 31 January 2014,
Dirty Fuels is a Bad Idea,
By keeping their money in coal and oil companies, investors are
betting a vast amount of wealth, including the pensions and savings
of millions of people, on high future demand for dirty fuels. The
investment has enabled fossil fuel companies to massively raise
their spending on expanding extractable reserves, with oil and gas
companies alone (state-owned ones included) spending the combined
GDP of Netherlands and Belgium a year, in belief that there will be
demand for ever more dirty fuel.
This assumption is being challenged by recent developments, which is
good news for climate but bad news for anyone who thought investing
in fossil fuel industries was a safe bet. Frantic growth in coal
consumption seems to be coming to an end much sooner than predicted
just a few years ago, with China’s aggressive clean air policies,
rapidly dropping coal consumption in the U.S. and upcoming closures
of many coal plants in Europe. At the same time the oil industry is
also facing slowing demand growth and the financial and share
performance of oil majors is disappointing for shareholders.
Nevertheless, even faced with weakening demand prospects, outdated
investment patterns are driving fossil fuel companies to waste
trillions of dollars in developing reserves and infrastructure that
will be stranded as the world moves beyond 20th century energy.
The article is mostly about coal and oil, but it applies equally well to fracked “natural” methane gas: Continue reading Stranded fossil fuel assets: money goes in, but does it come out? →