Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Brookfield Asset Management and Climate Change

The Wall Street Journal published a short question and answer piece with Brookfield managing partner Jehangir Vevaina in its January 9th edition. The immense Canadian asset manager is headed by former governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, Mark Carney.

The questions asked were in regard to Vevaina's and Brookfield's perceptions of the future of green energy. With $78 billion in renewables and energy transition investments the company has a serious interest in the efforts to arrest climate change. 

Referring to recent sell-offs and issues with publicly traded renewable companies, Vevaina said:

. . . already we are seeing  a more nuanced perspective return as investors put their money to work with developers with geographic and technology  diversification and the best track records. 

He expanded on that statement, mentioning the risks presented by wars, global supply problems and price volatility. On a positive note, investment in "clean" energy is now, for the first time, greater than investment in hydrocarbon energy and the international effort to achieve Net Zero is on schedule.

One thing that was not mentioned is that no government has reconsidered policy meant to control CO2 emissions. They are all in on the process.

Here we are. Hydrocarbon energy, an efficient, reliable, developed source of power is now condemned by academia, demonized by media, dismissed by government. Those three all stand to gain by the current fantasy but none so much as corporations like Brookfield Asset Management. Climate change is really all about wealth redistribution on a scale that dwarfs anything ever done before.      

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