The Greens

So we had about 45 people at tonight’s Green Party meeting. The first speaker, a Queen’s lecturer on the green economy, was supposed to talk about investing in the green economy. The third speaker, the head of Friends of the Earth in N.I., was meant to talk about the litigation FoE has undertaken to fight a variety of environmental calamities. Both of them went off script and basically spoke of community and the importance of individuals getting involved. They were inspirational speeches but light on content. “If you are fortunate enough to be a parent, you should be fighting for your children’s future,” that kind of thing.
I went in the other direction, talking about how activist investors use AGMs in the states to advance their agenda, including emissions reduction (“on average 400 to 500 shareholder resolutions are voted on at AGMs each year, with about a third pertaining to the environment”--that kind of thing. In particular I focussed on the utility company AES. Although it is an American company, it is the largest generator of power in N.I., based on ownership of two large plant with units powered by coal, gas, and diesel.
I also spoke a bit about stranded assets, sharing Carbon Tracker’s 2011 research that one third of the FTSE 100 (the main UK index) was comprised of oil and gas companies and commodities firms whose stocks will collapse in a transition to low carbon (Shell and BP dominate FTSE). I looked at FTSE yesterday and found that the one-third has fallen to one-quarter since 2011 because those sectors have underperformed the broad market. In the US, the comparable figure is 8% for those sectors based on the S&P500, not 25% of the FTSE100. I told people that if they have a private or public pension that has a large exposure to their domestic market, they have an oversized exposure to carbon.
In the US, I think people are more likely to have some role in determining how their 401k is invested, assuming they have one, and therefore have some knowledge of what is in their portfolio. Here, I think private and public pensions are invested without much involvement of the beneficiary, so it’s a bit harder to interest people in stock markets.
During the Q&A a question came up about installing renewables and connecting to the grid. Because I had just been to a conference on grid regulation, I actually had an answer for how power generation is being decentralised and whom he could talk to.
I don’t think I’m a natural public speaker but once I warm to my topic I’m fine. Anyway, I’m relieved it’s over.
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