Energy Efficiency, Finance, Sourcing Renewables  -  June 15, 2019

Weekend reads: Green finance hits $31 trillion; Oil stock Armageddon

It's the weekend! Kick back and catch up with these can't-miss articles from around the web:

Green Finance Is Now $31 Trillion and Growing (Bloomberg)  Climate change may still be a matter of debate for some politicians, but investors are increasingly decisive. Money is gushing into any kind of asset labeled green or sustainable. The frenzy now has investors and firms alike grappling with what counts as “green finance”—and with funds that are no longer seen as green enough. At least $30.7 trillion of funds is held in sustainable or green investments, up 34% from 2016, according to a report by the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance, a group of organizations tracking those moves in five regions from the U.S. to Australia. 

IMO 2020: The Big Shipping Shake-Up (Visual Capitalist)  Over 90% of global trade happens on our oceans. Enabling this constant movement of goods is a massive fleet of commercial ships. As a result, many ships at sea have a consequential impact on their surroundings. How do they affect the environment? One major side effect from the shipping industry is the release of Sulphur Oxides (SOx) into the atmosphere. 

Renewable industry employed 11 million people in 2018 (ThinkProgress) The number of workers employed by the renewable energy industry keeps growing. In 2018, at least 11 million people around the world held jobs across the renewables sector, from manufacturing and trading to installation. According to the sixth annual jobs report by the International Renewable Energy Agency, the majority of these jobs are concentrated in China, the European Union, Brazil, and the United States.

Here's Why Oil Stocks Are Priced For Armageddon (Seeking Alpha)  A year after I predicted the oil price collapse, I suggested that we were at the beginning of the end of the oil age. Both times I was told I was in wrong. In fact, I was told I was crazy. Several years later, here we are, and oil is in the midst of yet another correction. Oil stocks are doing even worse. The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas E&P ETF (XOP) is down nearly 40% from its 2018 high and nearly 70% off its 5-year high. What is causing this carnage? Is it really the end of the oil age? Are there other factors at work. What can we expect over the next several years?

Oregon Wave Energy Testing Project Moves Forward (Oregon Public Broadcasting) A renewable energy project planned off the coast of Newport is taking a step forward. Oregon State University has submitted a final license application for a wave energy testing facility with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. If built, it would be the largest of its kind in the United States. Oregon’s potential to use the motion of the waves to generate electricity is very high. But nationally, the development of wave energy has lagged behind other green energy sources.

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