It is encouraging that institutional investors with $1.5 trillion in funds have told asset managers to step up on climate action or risk being dumped, according to the Financial Times (behind a paywall). “A group of 26 financial institutions and pension funds from Australia to the US, including Scottish Widows, the People’s Partnership and Brunel Pension Partnership, have asked their asset managers to more actively engage with the companies they are invested in about their climate risk.”
Following the recent wildfires in Los Angeles, risk modellers say the wildfires will cost the global insurance industry about $40bn out of more than $250bn in total losses. The FT reports that State Farm, California’s largest private insurer, is seeking an emergency 22% rate increase from the state’s insurance regulator to help offset the bill from the January fires. This is what is happening in California. We’d better all be ready for such developments because we’re going to increasingly see more such climate impacts.
The Economist (behind a paywall) recently had a fascinating article on walkable cities. Experts from the Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Rome calculated the walkability of more than 10,000 cities around the world. European cities were the most pedestrian-friendly. In a ranking of big cities (those with more than half a million people), 45 of the top 50 spots were in Europe. Milan came first and Copenhagen second. The average Milanese needs to walk for only around seven minutes to reach amenities, and 98% of the city’s population live in 15-minute neighbourhoods. Even Parisians (ranked seventh) take just eight minutes, on average, to reach key amenities on foot, and 93% of them live in 15-minute neighbourhoods. Do you live in a fifteen minute neighbourhood?
In planning travel over the upcoming weeks, here are some useful ideas to help you along:
- Country Living Magazine provides 3 European train routes set to transform travel in 2025.
- Much Better Adventures provides us with 10 of the best winter walks in Europe.
- For those who want to combine hiking with food and wine in Europe and Australia, check out the Hedonistic Hiking website.
- Cycling for Softies provides us with the 15 Best Cycling Holidays in Europe 2025.
- Travelling in 2025? Here’s how to become a ‘regenerative’ tourist.
- Visit Wels, Austria in early March and attend World Sustainable Energy Days (WSED) (see post).
Don’t forget: There’s still time to register to attend the Energy Efficiency Conference at World Sustainable Energy Days, March 6-7, Wels, Austria!
Learned Hand (1872-1961), an American jurist, lawyer, and judicial philosopher, gives us his views on truth and society: “I will remember that what has brought us up from savagery is a loyalty to truth, and truth cannot emerge unless it is subjected to the utmost scrutiny — will you not agree that a society which has lost sight of that, cannot survive?”
EiD welcomes your views about this week’s selection of posts on the zero-carbon energy transition:
- What can we expect from Sustainable Aviation Fuels?
- New US government destroying electricity efficiency standards
- The global energy transition needs bold action
- There is too little sense of urgency in addressing climate change
- Yes, Trump is introducing anti-climate measures but “Ultimately, the writing is on the wall for fossil fuels”
- More than nine in 10 German companies have moved to cut GHG emissions, according to annual survey commissioned by EIB
- Columbia Climate School Launches First in U.S. Climate Finance Degree
- New report shows that global warming represents an existential threat to the EU
- The IEA is under increasing scrutiny as the global energy landscape shifts under a second Trump administration
Please send your comments on any of the posts. Please recommend EiD to your friends and colleagues.
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Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 