The Killing of Civilization Continues
Mr. Freeze
From coal mining to portfolio mining. The Swiss National Bank announced today that it will tighten the environmental, social and governance (ESG)-based restrictions on its roughly $128 billion worth of U.S. stock holdings, with SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan declaring that: “We will from now on exclude all companies primarily active in the mining of coal from our portfolios.” The SNB had previously culled companies causing “severe environmental damage” and manufacturers of “internationally condemned weapons” from its portfolio, Bloomberg notes.
The gnomes have company in their efforts to make the world a greener place. Last week, ECB President Christine Lagarde promised to “use every avenue” to fight climate change. In an October interview with the U.S. National Association for Business Economics, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda stated that “climate change, how to realize a green economy. . . these issues are really huge and I must say [they are] the most challenging issues faced by the global economy.” Pandemic-related pain presumably comes in second on that list.
Stateside, the monetary mandarins are likewise looking beyond their traditional role to help shape an eco-friendlier future. On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors unanimously voted to join the Network for Greening the Financial System, a consortium of 75 central banks around the world. The organization requires member banks to be on board with the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement, a pact from which President Trump withdrew but which President-elect Joe Biden pledges to rejoin.
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