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The Pears Report - Risky Business? | Alan Pears, Renew Ecomony

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THIS summer has exposed yet another aspect of the fragility of our traditional electricity
grid, with several failures in local distribution networks—the so-called ‘poles and wires’. As former ATA staffer Craig Memery has reminded us in a recent article (www.bit.ly/2HSHTao), the vast majority of power failures—97.2% on Craig’s figures—happen within local networks, with just 0.24% from insufficient generation. 

Once again we face a choice between propping up traditional over-built
electricity supply infrastructure or driving transformation. The first involves inefficient capital investment in power lines and equipment capacity used for just a few hours a year; the second involves innovation with confusing options and other risks.

Read more

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International Climate Risk Conference for Supervisors | Hosted by De Nederlandsche Bank - Klaas Knot

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Welcome speech by Klaas Knot, President of the Dutch central bank De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), at the first ever conference on climate risks and supervision, and also the first ever conference of the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System, Amsterdam, April 6th 2018.

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Green Finance - a new frontier for the 21st century | Francois Villeroy de Galhau

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Opening keynote by François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Banque de France at the International Climate Risk Conference for Supervisors, Amsterdam, 6th April 2018. Slideshow below:

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Will the inflection become a disruption? | Ben Scheltus

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Mark Carney, the Chair of the Bank of England made an important speech in Amsterdam recently. He was attending a gathering of his counterparts that met to discuss the challenges presented by climate change.

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His speech was called “A Transition in Thinking and Action”.  He maintained that there has been a substantial shift in the way the finance community thinks about the risks presented by climate change and this change in thinking has resulted in action. He ended his speech by saying: “­­The tragedy of the horizon can be resolved in an orderly, effective and productive manner, however, with early transitions in thinking and action."

Andy Grove, Intel’s co-founder famously described a strategic inflection point as “an event that changes the way we think and act”. Inflection points can be a result of action taken by a company, or through actions taken by another entity, that has a direct impact on the company. Additionally, inflection points may be caused by international action or by unforeseen events.

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A market disruption is a situation where markets cease to function in a regular manner, typically characterised by rapid and large market declines. A market disruption often occurs as a result of an event or group of events that are widely perceived as economically detrimental. The anxiety becomes contagious, causing both investor confidence and consumer confidence to fall. Recent examples of market disrupters are: Uber entering the ride share market, AirBNB for hotels, Amazon on bricks & mortar supermarkets, Tesla’s impact on the car industry and renewable energy’s impact on coal fired power.

We are currently facing an inflection in the finance market that is being driven from three directions:

1      In order to avoid a market disruption in the EU finance market, policy makers are energetically promoting a more effective and transparent method of disclosing the risks resulting from climate change. Chairs of a number of influential Reserve Banks have recently re-iterated their intent to change the way financial entities disclose and manage risks. They know that for markets to do what they do best – allocate capital effectively and dynamically – they need the right information. When risks are unknown or ill-defined, the market cannot allocate resources in an efficient and profitable manner. The policy maker’s goal is to help the industry manage the inflection.

2      The WEF Global Risks report published at Davos in February this year categorised five (of the top six) major risks emanating from climate change. When a powerful and authoritative group identifies risks in this manner, it pays to listen.  Many of these risks will impact the finance industry – particularly insurance. Directors should pay heed and have a clear understanding of the risks identified and develop mitigation strategies.

3      Most countries are facing an inflection point in their energy markets – particularly in power generation. The transition towards renewables and battery technology has resulted in early adopters making investment decisions that will result in changes to the market that may happen faster than expected.

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Readers need only consider the pressure the AGL board has recently experienced, to appreciate what may be in store for other firms. Laggards unwilling to change may end up owning stranded assets or have others limit their options.

Electricity supply is fundamental to the operation of a successful economy and one way or another – all Australian businesses will be impacted by this transition. 

So what’s it going to be – an inflection or a disruption?

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High Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance - workshops and briefings

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No doubt you are aware of the groundbreaking work done by Mr Bloomberg’s Task Force over the last two years?

Subsequent to the Task Force recommendations being published, the EU established a High-Level Expert Group on sustainable finance. The group's report sets out strategic recommendations for a financial system that supports sustainable investments.

Dr Paul Fisher, a key member of the group, who was also a member of the UK Green Finance Task Force, will be visiting Australia in November and running interactive workshops and executive briefing sessions. The sessions will address the relevance of and omissions from the HLEG in an Australian context.

If you are interested in attending these briefings, or organising something specific for your organisation, please contact us to register your interest. This will be an essential update for any executives working in the finance sector.

  • There will be half day workshops, offering a deep dive into the HLEG’s recommendations. Dr Fisher will speak about each of the key recommendations and give the attendees the opportunity to ask questions and contribute their views to the conversation in the context of the Australian economy and current Australian policy settings. This workshop can be run as an internal session or one open to your clients.
  • We also have 30-45 minute high level summary talks of the HLEG recommendations that would be ideal for a breakfast or lunch briefing, targeted at your client executives responsible for sustainable investment.