The Guardian is reporting about a leaked report from the investment firm JPMorgan Chase, which warns its clients that climate change threatens the survival of the human race. The Hill is reporting that JPMorgan Chase is planning to stop approving loans for drilling for fossil fuels in the Arctic, and will phase out new and existing loans for some coal mining by 2024. Until now, JPMorgan Chase has been the largest investor in fossil fuel companies.
The leaked report notes that climate change will affect human health, the economy, and migration, and that we got here partly because climate change “reflects a global market failure in the sense that producers and consumers of CO2 emissions do not pay for the climate damage that results.”
The report recommends that policymakers change direction and take strong action now, and not continue with business as usual.
While the disinvestment JPMorgan Chase is planning is a small step – only companies that get more than half their revenue from coal, and only restricting fossil fuel development in the Arctic, it is a step in the right direction, and more could follow.
It’s time all policymakers follow the lead of some of the big investment banks, and take strong action on climate. It is too risky for the world economy to keep drilling for oil, especially in the Arctic which could see more extensive thawing of permafrost.
