On the Green New Deal
This is starting to be a very productive spring. The New York Build conference and expo took place yesterday and today. The New York Circular City Week and Facades+ conferences are coming up.
Once piece of news that caught my attention is an episode of The Daily. Last week The Daily covered Larry Fink, the BlackRock CEO, and the letter to other CEOs that he publishes every year. This letter tends to be very influencing to the market, mainly because BlackRock is one of the largest asset managers in the world. This one happened to be about sustainability and the effect of climate change to investments. Any effort towards a more sustainable future is only possible through policy and legislation, but this direction coming from the world of investing is certainly a great step towards a brighter future. BlackRock has moved to start divesting from fossil fuels, a move that will certainly spark trends.
Jeremy Rifkin argues in his most recent book, The Green New Deal: Why the Fossil Fuel Civilization Will Collapse by 2028, and the Bold Economic Plan to Save Life on Earth, the fossil fuel economy is not that far from collapsing. As the book title suggests, he predicts that it will do so before 2030 and major corporations should start thinking of diversifying their assets. He specifically calls fossil fuel investments "stranded assets".
Microsoft, Delta, and Amazon among others have issued statements in response to Fink's letter making pledges about sustainability.
New York City and other jurisdictions are actively producing legislation in ways to curb carbon. Will our clients, and the rest of the private economy, respond in lieu of our governments slow movement? Will our clients ask us to respond? We certainly hope so.
What I’m reading:
A Fundamental Reshaping of Finance, Blackrock
Jeff Bezos Commits $10 Billion to Address Climate Change, The New York Times
Microsoft has given us a glimpse of a carbon-negative future, Quartz
Delta Air Lines CEO Announces Carrier Will Go ‘Fully Carbon Neutral’, NBC Boston
The Green New Deal,
Why the fossil fuel civilization will collapse by 2028 and the bold economic plan to save life on earth
By Jeremy Rifkin
AI highly recommend this book as it offers a highly positive view on the inevitability of a green economy.
