Paris agreement News

Update: Activists Sue BNP Over Energy Loans, TotalEnergies Over Human Rights

Climate and human rights activists sued two of France’s biggest corporations over fossil fuel financing and alleged human rights abuses on Thursday, as campaigners increasingly turn to lawsuits to push big companies to change their behavior. Oxfam, Friends of the …

Insurance Industry Support of Carbon Removal Needed in Drive to Net Zero

Ditching investments in fossil fuel businesses—and denying them insurance—aren’t the only ways for the insurance industry to participate in the drive to net zero greenhouse gas emissions, according to representatives of global insurers and reinsurers. Even those companies that are …

Climate Change Exacerbates Extreme Weather in Europe: Report

Climate change produced another record-breaking year of extreme weather in Europe in 2021, triggering catastrophic flooding and the hottest summer on record, according to scientists at the Copernicus Climate Change Service. Summer temperatures in Europe last year were one degree …

As Climate Disclosures Toughen, Corporate Laggards May Be Vulnerable to Lawsuits

A push by Britain to toughen up corporate environmental disclosures will cast a spotlight on climate change dawdlers as campaigners increasingly turn to the courts to force a speedier transition to a low-carbon economy. Almost 2,000 climate change-related lawsuits have …

Burn the Client or Burn the Carbon? Insurer AXA Grapples With Clean Energy Transition.

The glass tower in Paris where AXA SA, one of the world’s largest insurers, has its temporary headquarters looks as if a giant feral cat has ripped chunks out of it. In recent months that jagged feeling extends inside, too, …

French Insurer CNP to Stop Financing New Oil/Gas Projects to Help Limit Global Warming

France’s CNP Assurances CNPP.PA will no longer finance new oil and gas projects or invest more money in companies planning to do so, joining the growing ranks of insurers taking a more pro-active approach to tackling global warming. The company …

Climate Change Litigation: Why Better Disclosure Is Vital as Cases Rise

With the effects of climate change becoming more palpable, a rise in climate litigation cases could have significant financial and reputational repercussions for corporates. Thomas Englerth, associate director at S&P Global Ratings, explores how the potential risks associated with this …

Climate Activists Behind Landmark Shell Verdict Set Sights on 30 Multinationals

The Dutch wing of environmental group Friends of the Earth, which won a landmark court case against Royal Dutch Shell last year, demanded 30 corporations publish plans for big cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in a campaign launched on Thursday. …

COP26 Climate Agreement Targets Fossil Fuels as Key Driver of Global Warming

GLASGOW – U.N. climate talks ended Saturday with a deal that for the first time targeted fossil fuels as the key driver of global warming, even as coal-reliant countries lobbed last-minute objections. While the agreement won applause for keeping alive …

What Are the Economic Stakes of Climate Change?

COP26 climate talks in Glasgow starting next Sunday may be the world’s best last chance to cap global warming at the 1.5-2 degrees Celsius upper limit set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement. The stakes for the planet are huge …