(Intro in Dutch, interview in English with subtitles) With investors beginning to second-guess fossil fuel companies’ plans for continuing, massive oil and gas exploration, UK industry analyst Jeremy Leggett says he’s hopeful that 2014 and 2015 will see major changes in the companies’ business strategies. “The pressures on them,” he told a Dutch TV interviewer, “are becoming very acute,” with investors demanding immediate returns in lieu of continued capital expenditures on ever-riskier exploration. There is mounting evidence that 60-80% of known fossil fuel reserves will have to stay in the ground if the world is to limit global warming to 2°C, and a coherent policy approach to climate change would leave those assets stranded. But Leggett, founder of Solarcentury, argued that a collapse in investor confidence doesn’t even require legislators to take action. “It requires people to recognize that they might,” which “could begin in a snowballing way to trigger the change.” (h/t Ralph Torrie for pointing us to this interview)
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