Energy

From street lamps and neon signs to phone screens and reading torches, artificial light plays an integral role in modern life. While this technology has brought a raft of economic and social benefits to humanity, there are also drawbacks. According to the U.K. government, for instance, artificial light is not always needed and also “has

Date/Time: November 19, 2020 (1-2PM ET / 10-11AM PT) The process to decarbonize power systems is complicated. Grid operators are tasked with balancing affordability and reliability as more renewable energy comes online. Utilities must find the right mix of energy resources to decarbonize while planning for extreme weather events. Meanwhile, the imperative to increase renewable

Gold bullion bars are pictured after being inspected and polished at the ABC Refinery in Sydney on August 5, 2020. DAVID GRAY | AFP | Getty Images Goldman Sachs is forecasting a bull market for commodities in 2021 based on its outlook for a weaker dollar, inflation, and the prospect of further economic and fiscal

Back in my former life as a tech journo, my coverage was informed by the infamous “hype cycle” phrase coined by research firm Gartner to describe the arc of emerging technology adoption from the spark of innovation to mainstream adoption. Lately, I’ve been mulling that framework a great deal in the context of a much-ballyhooed

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The International Monetary Fund downgraded its outlook for Middle East and Central Asian economic recovery, predicting a 4.1% contraction for the region as a whole — 1.3 percentage points worse than its previous assessment in April — in its latest regional outlook report released Monday.  Jihad Azour, director of the

The Saturday before President Donald Trump got COVID-19, I bought a desk at one of those warehouse furniture stores — one of the ones with the annoying jingle that gets stuck in your head despite your best efforts to the contrary. Buying the desk was my last bit of acceptance that working from home was

One of the market’s worst-performing sectors this year has turned the tables. S&P 500 utilities stocks have been the top sector over the past month and in October, with the group now approaching a key bullish pattern known as a golden cross, when the 50-day moving average crosses over the 200-day moving average. The pattern

The global shipping industry’s decarbonization efforts once again face stormy seas. Ahead of the latest crucial round of talks this week at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), green groups are warning proposals are “an empty shell” that will have a negligible impact on the sector’s emissions. Seasoned observers fear that growing calls for a bolder

As the Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler battle over traditional off-road supremacy next year, General Motors has its sights set on a new segment with a different competitor: Tesla. The Detroit automaker resurrects the Hummer on Tuesday night as an all-electric “supertruck” that’s set to go on sale in roughly a year – likely ahead,

Corporate sustainability has a reporting problem — it always has. Companies typically don’t enjoy creating them and investors, customers, employees and most other stakeholders don’t revel in reading them. Yet, with investors more interested in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues than ever before, this long-standing problem has become an immediate liability for companies looking

Steam is vented through exhaust stacks at Great River Energy’s Coal Creek Station in North Dakota. Some of the largest banks in the U.S. have cut back on lending to the coal sector in recent years, but they need to do much more to lower the climate risk in their loan portfolios, a new report

Generation Z, those born between 1996 and 2015, are current consumers, future business leaders and the future of this world. Yet, Gen Z is unlike any other generation to date. With buying power of more than $140 billion, Gen Z is the fastest-growing consumer segment with unique purchasing values in mind and the willingness to

Chinese workers walk on a section of the world’s largest floating solar farm project during construction. The lake was created by a collapsed and flooded coal mine in Huainan, Anhui province, China. Kevin Frayer | Getty Images News | Getty Images SINGAPORE — China, the world’s largest carbon-emitting country, has doubled down on its pledge

The solar energy trade is soaring. Invesco’s Solar ETF (TAN) has become one of the market’s hottest exchange-traded funds, up almost 139% year to date and counting as former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump in presidential election polls. Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan, which would focus on promoting clean energy, has been

Business as usual for the luxury industry is over. 2020 brings with it the end of a positive growth cycle, as analysts expect global luxury sales to contract 25-45 percent in 2020, with a recovery that could take up to three years. And yet, the coronavirus pandemic, for all the havoc it has wrought on

The Foxconn logo is displayed on a Foxconn building in Taipei on January 31, 2019. Sam Yeh | AFP | Getty Images GUANGZHOU, CHINA — Foxconn, the Taiwan company that assembles Apple’s iPhone, has launched an platform to help automobile companies make electric cars. The technology giant is best-known for being a major assembler of

I recently joined the most impressive group of clean energy leaders I’ve known, and it happens to have come together in support of Joe Biden for president. The network: Clean Energy for Biden (CE4B).  It includes more than 9,500 clean energy professionals in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. There are entrepreneurs, engineers, policymakers, technicians and

From birds that can fly for months on end to giant redwoods stretching hundreds of feet into the air, the natural world inspires awe and wonder. For thousands of years, humanity’s appreciation of nature has led to countless works of literature, art, and even innovations in design and engineering. Examples of the latter include the

Week in Review Stories discussed this week (4:08). Features Building the B Corp movement (16:40)  While some large multinationals including Danone and Natura have embraced the B Corp certification, others have been slower to move. That was a catalyst for the new B Movement Builders initiative, launched in September. Marcelo Behar, vice president for sustainability

Like many large businesses, dairy company Arla Foods has grand plans to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and the firm aims to be carbon net zero by 2050. Around 85% of Arla’s total emissions come from the co-operative of 10,000 farms it has across Europe, a combination of the methane and nitrous oxide from the

San José is rolling out the green carpet for biking, thanks to the city council’s unanimous passage of the Better Bike Plan 2025. With the plan’s adoption, the city commits to building a 550-mile network of bike lanes, boulevards and trails to help thousands more people ride safely. The plan is realistic about the past,

General Motors is launching a splashy new ad blitz next week for the global debut of its all-electric GMC Hummer in an attempt to reach 80% of U.S. adults. The vehicle will be unveiled Tuesday during the World Series, “The Voice” and across a barrage of social media and streaming platforms The estimated viewership – roughly 255

IKEA customers soon will be able to sell their flat-pack furniture back to the company, after the retail giant announced a new buy-back scheme that will see it purchase old and unwanted IKEA items and resell them to shoppers at discounted rates. The Swedish furniture giant said it will launch the sustainability initiative on Black

COVID-19 has radically accelerated the need for the fashion industry to innovate. The second edition of the Circular Fashion Summit bears fruit of this new socially distanced reality. The world’s first virtual reality (VR) fashion summit Oct. 3 and 4 was pioneered by founders Lorenzo Albrighi and ShihYun Kuo of Lablaco, a company that uses

Prince William photographed in Peterborough, England, on July 16, 2020. Kirsty Wigglesworth – WPA Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images A £50 million ($64.54 million) prize focused on the environment was launched by Prince William on Thursday, with the Duke of Cambridge describing the next 10 years as “a critical decade for change.”

HSBC has become the latest bank to commit to achieving net-zero financed emissions, announcing Monday that it intends to align its portfolio of investments and debt financing with global climate targets by mid-century. The bank, currently Europe’s second largest financier of fossil fuels, has committed to reaching net-zero across its supply chain and operations by

Monika Skolimowska | picture alliance | Getty Images As the world looks to move towards a low-carbon future, the potential of “green hydrogen” — which is produced using renewable energy — has garnered increasing interest from businesses, governments and investors alike. In the last few years, major firms including Repsol, Siemens Energy, Orsted and BP

When it comes to the climate crisis, it’s not just what you make and sell, it’s what you do, and for whom you do it. That’s the message from several recent reports focusing on the role of service-sector companies in addressing — positively or negatively — climate change. The mere existence of these documents, and

Peter Cade | Stone | Getty Images The world’s response to Covid-19 can “reshape the future of energy” for years to come, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday in its annual World Energy Outlook report. The IEA report underscored that most important of all is how the crisis will ultimately affect the transition to clean

A couple of years ago, desperate for fitness and community, I joined the master’s swim program at my local pool. I churned up and down the lanes a few mornings a week, and I grew faster and faster, especially on the sprints. Turns out these big feet of mine, size 13 with fallen arches, propel

Oil pipelines, pumping rigs, and electrical transmission lines dot the landscape along California’s “Petroleum Highway” (Highway 33) running along the northwestern side of the San Joaquin Valley on April 24, 2020, near McKittrick, California. George Rose | Getty Images News | Getty Images Despite a grim demand outlook for energy as the coronavirus pandemic continues

A discarded face mask is pictured near an oil pump in Long Beach, California on August 22, 2020. APU GOMES | AFP via Getty Images LONDON — OPEC on Thursday said it had downwardly revised its forecast for global oil demand growth over the long term, given the industry faced “an existential threat” this year

An Equinor employee talks to a reporter on a rig used to produce oil from the Johan Sverdrup oil field some 140 kilometres west from the town of Stavanger, Norway, on December 3, 2019. TOM LITTLE | AFP via Getty Images LONDON — A strike by workers in the Norwegian oil sector could soon wipe

In the face of dangerous heat waves this summer, Americans have taken shelter in air-conditioned cooling centers. Normally, that would be a wise choice, but during a pandemic, indoor shelters present new risks. The same air conditioning systems that keep us cool recirculate air around us, potentially spreading the coronavirus. “Air conditioners look like they’re

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday said it’s time to start taking hydrogen energy seriously as the technology emerges as a reliable alternative energy source. “If you want to speculate on a sexy long-term story, I’m bullish on hydrogen,” the “Mad Money” host said. Cramer has been skeptical of bullish trading activity in red-hot speculative stocks,

This article originally was published in the BSR Insight. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the fashion industry into disarray, leaving supply chain workers without wages and causing major global brands to file for bankruptcy. In the United States alone, 2.1 million retail workers lost their jobs due to the crisis. In Bangladesh, the garment sector

An off-shore oil platform off the coast in Huntington Beach on Sunday, April 5, 2020. Leonard Ortiz | MediaNews Group | Orange County Register | Getty Images SINGAPORE — A Biden presidency could bring 1 million barrels per day of Iranian oil back into the market, but lead to lower demand in the long run, an economist

Week in Review Stories discussed this week (4:20). Features All the glitters: Beautycounter and the mica supply chain (17:30)  Outakes from the reporting behind Joel Makower’s two-part series about the mica supply chain and retailer Beautycounter’s work to address the sector’s big child labor problem. You can read both stories here and here. A corporate climate

Many investors are speculating that Big Oil dividends could be in danger given how low the price of crude has dropped this year, but in an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Chevron CEO Michael Wirth defended his company’s ability to keep its dividend intact. “We continue to have a very strong balance sheet so our

One of the hottest 2020 trends in raising capital is infiltrating climate-tech investing.  As of mid-September, the stock market had welcomed at least 82 initial public offerings this year by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) — organizations that collectively raised more than $31 billion. Last week, former NRG Energy CEO David Crane joined the frenzy. 

Dan Yergin Jessica Rinaldi | The Boston Globe | Getty Images The U.S. could remain the world’s largest oil producer in five years, no matter who wins the election, and oil demand should come back strong after Covid-19. Dan Yergin, vice chairman of IHS Markit, explores these and other topics in a discussion with CNBC.

The produce industry has long been building resiliency through sustainability strategies. Hear from members of the industry including Jeff Scott from Kwik Lok, Anabella De Freeman from Walmart and Mike Thomsen from Second Harvest Food Bank as they describe how the produce industry’s integration of sustainable practices have made their organizations more resilient – especially in

Nikola founder Trevor Milton has sued a Utah businessman for defamation, accusing him of a “malicious campaign to harass” and discredit the billionaire by publicly accusing him over Twitter of sexually abusing women, according to the lawsuit filed Monday. David Bateman, the founder and CEO of software company Entrata, started tweeting about Milton in late September, posting

Heading into fall, this batch of career updates from the worlds of sustainability and business is somewhat top-heavy. It’s not necessarily that the game of musical chairs has intensified in the C-suite, but you’ll note major executive moves at big apparel, food, energy, finance and technology corporations, some of which have enlisted a chief sustainability

Energy stocks are showing rare strength this week as oil rallies. The XLE energy ETF is up 4% over the past two days, though remains down nearly 50% this year. The sector is easily the worst performer in 2020. Todd Gordon, founder of TradingAnalysis.com, said the group could slowly be turning a corner as the

The COVID crisis has exposed our interdependencies and the insufficient preparation of our urban systems for coping with shocks. It also has highlighted the stress we put on the environment and in many places greatly increased inequality — including the response to heat. Now, with climate change, come scorching hot temperatures during the summer months which

A construction worker at an HS2 building site in the Euston area of London on May 6, 2020. ISABEL INFANTES | AFP | Getty Images Often involving thousands of people, large infrastructure projects comprise a range of stakeholders, including architects, designers, engineers and construction workers.  The way these schemes operate is changing, with technology and

The fashion industry is damaging to the planet — it’s responsible for 10 percent of the world’s carbon emissions. But there are companies — both large and small — trying to solve this problem. Back in 2017, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation tapped on large brands such as Burberry, Gap and H&M to make fashion circular — ensuring