As part of our special week of content on sustainable investing, I asked my team to think about the COP conference, and its efforts to produce consensus on climate action. But I also did some of my own thinking. In this short piece, I ask whether we are running out of time to get climate policy right. Disclaimer: this is a work of editorial comment, and does not represent the view of Morningstar as an organisation, its analysts or leadership
Transcript:
As delegates to prepare to meet just a couple of miles from these sand flats for COP55 there is a sense of somewhat of a subdued atmosphere. After all, the China delegation hasn’t turned up, the two warring US factions aren’t talking to eachother, and a new bloc, led by India, Pakistan, and Brazil, may well get the protectionist measures it is demanding.
But this was not supposed to be because, by now, we were meant to be celebrating. The blueprint suggested that decarbonisation would be well underway, and Net Zero would be providing a model for our future sustainment on planet Earth. But as the tides of history rise, there appears to be another answer altogether. And that is that we have not, in fact, done enough, and that time, indeed, is running out.
