Big Banks Have Piped $3 Trillion Into Fossil Fuels Since the Paris Climate Deal

The world’s biggest 60 banks have provided $3.8 trillion of financing for fossil fuel companies since the Paris climate deal in 2015, according to a report by a coalition of NGOs.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic cutting energy use, overall funding remains on an upward trend and the finance provided in 2020 was higher than in 2016 or 2017, a fact the report’s authors and others described as “shocking.”

It’s not just the U.S.: Around the world, doors are shutting on Chinese investment

As the United States grew more hostile toward Chinese investment in the country this year by blocking a handful of high-profile deals, many investors and advisers were confident China would find opportunities elsewhere.

That confidence has proven premature.

In recent months, Germany, France, Britain, the European Union, Australia, Japan and Canada have all joined an unprecedented global backlash against Chinese capital, citing national security concerns. Dealmakers now wonder whether this dynamic will run its course or should be taken as a new normal.

Germany’s Chinese investment problem

HAMBURG, Germany — In the conflict between Beijing, Berlin and Brussels over skyrocketing investment by Chinese firms in European high-tech industries, China has a major advantage: It has a plan.

Germany doesn’t. Neither does the European Union.

While trade experts warn that a recent spending spree by Chinese companies — many of them supported by the Chinese government — will harm the competitiveness of European business in the long-term, Berlin and Brussels are struggling to come up with a political response.

How a BC Union Dumped Fossil Fuels and Cashed In

"Hey, you placed an order to move all of your money out of equities. What's going on?!"

No surprise that the investment manager was twitchy. BC Government and Service Employees' Union treasurer Paul Finch expected a reaction when he pulled $20 million from Canadian equities in one day in 2014.

Both the strike fund, and the union's general reserves -- Finch told the investment managers to sell the equity holdings. Now.

Money flooding out of Canada at fastest pace in developed world

Money is flooding out of Canada at the fastest pace in the developed world as the nation’s decade-long oil boom comes to an end and little else looks ready to take the industry’s place as an economic driver.

Canada’s basic balance — a measure of national accounts that spans everything from trade to financial-market flows — swung from a surplus of 4.2 per cent of gross domestic product to a deficit of 7.9 per cent in the 12 months ending in June, according to analysis from Kamal Sharma, a foreign-exchange strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. That’s the fastest one-year deterioration among 10 major developed nations.

Coal Investment Is the Most Urgent Climate Threat

LONDON—The future of coal has come under scrutiny from a perhaps unlikely source—the head of the organisation representing wealthy nations that relied on coal for 32% of electricity generation last year.

Angel Gurría, secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), said the scale of new investments in “unabated” coal-fired electricity generation—where greenhouse gases are emitted directly to the atmosphere—posed the most urgent threat to the Earth’s climate.

Church Of England Divests Oilsands, Coal Investments

Oilsands companies shouldn't expect a blessing from the Church of England.

Concerns over climate change have prompted the church to divest itself of approximately $22 million (£12 million) in oilsands and thermal coal investments, it said in a Thursday news release.

It will also no longer invest in companies that obtain more than 10 per cent of their revenue from these industries.

1,000 Wealthy Chinese Entrepreneurs To Get Their Own Montreal Enclave

A Beijing-based holding company is moving forward with a plan to build a $1-billion commercial and residential centre in Montreal’s southern suburbs with the aim of attracting 1,000 Chinese entrepreneurs to the area.

A source close to the project told Huffington Post Quebec an official announcement will be made in the coming weeks in the presence of Canada’s ambassador to China.

The project from Min Ying Holdings will take shape in Longueuil, on Montreal’s south shore and near a sizeable Chinese community in nearby Brossard.

'Difficult' Oil Faces Difficult Future, Predict New Reports

Two new reports on tight oil, or "difficult" oil extracted by fracking and horizontal drilling, and bitumen mining in North America strip away the marketing hype on extreme hydrocarbons and conclude that their futures may be volatile and shorter than advertised.

"Drilling Deeper," a massive, 300-page report by energy analyst and B.C. resident David Hughes, finds the boom in tight oil and shale gas plays in the United States will not last long, nor deliver energy independence to that country.

Chinese Investors In B.C. Expanding To Recreational Purchases

Chinese investors in B.C. are expanding their interests to recreational properties with some recent big transactions.

Buyers from mainland China closed a deal last week for Fox Island — 43-acres on the southern B.C. coast — for $2.5 million. Meanwhile, Fairmeade Farm, a 156-acre equestrian centre in Langley, sold for $5.5 million earlier this spring, real estate marketer Mark Lester told The Huffington Post B.C.

China's Investment In Hollywood Movies Has Begun

HONG KONG - China's state-owned film distributor is making its first investment in Hollywood movies by taking a stake in two projects by production company Legendary Entertainment.

The two companies said on Tuesday that China Film would make an "eight-figure equity investment" in two upcoming films, "Seventh Son" and "Warcraft."

The exact amount was not specified.

Here's Why the World Is Spending Less on Renewable Energy

The United Nations climate folks think global investment in renewable energy needs to hit $1 trillion a year by 2030 to keep global warming to an acceptable level. So it might seem disconcerting that in 2013, investment dropped for the second year in a row, down 14 percent from 2012 to $214 billion, according to new data released by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) at its annual confab in New York this week.

As investment fell, so too did the total amount of renewable energy being installed worldwide. That's down nearly 7 percent from 2012 to 2013.

The Gates Foundation's Hypocritical Investments

With an endowment larger than all but four of the world's largest hedge funds, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is easily one of the most powerful charities in the world. According to its website, the organization "works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives." So how do the investments of the foundation's $36 billion investing arm, the Gates Foundation Trust, match up to its mission? We dug into the group's recently released 2012 tax returns to find out.

Warren Buffett Buys Stake In Calgary's Suncor

Warren Buffett has bought into the Alberta oilsands with a stake in Suncor Energy Inc., according to a Securities Exchange Commission filing released today.

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Holdings owned 17.8 million Suncor shares on June 30, a stake valued at more than $500 million in the Calgary-based heavy-oil producer.

Feds, industry investing in innovation to clean up the oilsands

Government and industry continue to invest in research and development to reduce the environmental impacts of oilsands development, but it appears unlikely that the sector will adopt greener practices without tougher regulations.

The federal and Alberta governments and the oil industry are making multi-million dollar investments aimed at addressing the impact of oilsands development on land and water usage and carbon emissions, in some cases independently and other cases partnering on specific projects and initiatives.

Federal briefing deflates claim of inappropriate hoard of corporate cash

OTTAWA - An internal briefing for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty deflates repeated claims that corporations are irresponsibly sitting on a hoard of idle cash rather than injecting it into the economy.

"While Canadian non-financial corporations are holding more cash than ever before, they appear to have legitimate business and economic reasons for doing so," says a summary.

Corporations still won’t circulate ‘dead money’

Eight weeks from now Mark Carney, the boldest and least stuffy governor the Bank of Canada has ever had, will be gone. It looks as if he’s going to lose one of his last battles.

Last August Carney appealed to corporate Canada to put the “dead money” sitting in its coffers to work creating jobs, investing in new products and updating its technology. Business executives reared up angrily at his presumption and kept socking away their earnings.

Teacher Decries Pension Plan's 'Unethical' Investments

The BC Teachers' Federation prides itself on being a "social justice" union, and in many ways that is true: it's a living wage employer, an advocate against child poverty, an environmental steward, pushes an anti-Northern Gateway pipeline lesson plan, and is a fervent defender of public education, criticizing corporations like Pearson Education for privatizing education.

But the teachers' pension plan tells a different story. Managed by the BC Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC), the Teachers' Pension Plan invests in Pearson, Enbridge, British American Tobacco, Haliburton, and other corporations associated with environmental destruction, sweatshop labour, and weapons manufacturing.

Money will always flow to the oilsands

There are many reasons we should think hard about whether to approve CNOOC’s bid for Calgary oil company Nexen. Getting cut off from capital we need to develop our resources isn’t one of them.

Especially in the wake of Ottawa’s turning down of Malaysia’s Petronas’ bid for Progress Corp., hand-wringing is the order of the day in the business community as the deadline looms for Ottawa’s ruling on the Nexen transaction. These decisions are creating uncertainty that will make oil companies very reluctant to invest in Canadian natural resources, is the constant refrain from investment firms, financial journalists and the oilpatch itself.

Spouses of ministers hold portfolios of publicly-traded securities

The spouses of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and seven other Conservative cabinet ministers are holding portfolios of publicly-traded securities without having to put the assets into blind trusts.

While ministers must either sell their shares in publicly-traded companies or turn them over to a trustee to avoid a conflict of interest, there is no such requirement constraining their husbands or wives under current ethics rules.