Examining ESG

This week in science features a deep dive into those projections of temperature change that are actually realistic. Since all the economic and political aspects of climate change are predicated on there being a scientifically proven man-made emergency/crisis, understanding what the scientific literature shows us is vital to everything that follows, and there is a massive body of literature across all scientific disciplines showing that nature has always been dangerous and there is no global change detectable. Understanding how models are created, validated and used is vital. The article referenced is just one of many, but captures high-level knowledge about models. In economics/investment I have references to articles on ESG wars, the Green Energy Gender Gap, Biden killing oil and gas, DEI vulnerable to sudden collapse, catastrophic ESG lapses, and more. Impacts and risks of “realistic” global warming projections for the 21st century   " The obtained climate projections show that ...

COP28 and the scourge of eco-imperialism  It’s the ideology of environmentalism that should be ‘phased out’.  "The luxuriant doom-mongering of privileged eco-warriors who insist the world will end if we don’t phase out fossil fuels was confronted by a truth no reasonable person can deny: that fossil fuels remain vital to human life. In the gleaming oasis of Dubai it became clear that oil, gas and even coal are not going away anytime soon, however much the Gretas of the West might want them to. Why? Because – brace yourselves – India, China, Brazil and other nations are not prepared to sacrifice their economic health at the altar of our deranged anti-modernism."   The COP28 charade   "In fact, COP 28 was a spectacular failure, as measured against the goals that the UN had set for it from the beginning. It did not achieve a single one of the objectives that climate activists sought. Even more important, in spite of the voluntary commitments that various governments mad...

We sometimes see news articles proclaiming the virtues of wind and solar-generated electricity in a specific region. The example is chosen to highlight how good wind and solar are at providing electricity that is claimed to be "renewable" in some way. Not only does the idea of renewable ignore that it is an industrial process requiring immense mining projects and is very capital intensive, even the energy claims are usually false when examined in their full context. Consider this article:  Portugal powered solely by renewables last weekend  from November 1, 2023. The article was short but included this text, and I have made a few words bold to highlight what is misleading: Portugal relied solely on renewable energy last weekend, particularly wind and hydroelectric power, to meet electricity demand. It generated 172.5 GWh of renewable electricity and consumed 131.1 GWh between Friday night and Monday morning. Wind contributed 97.6 GWh, hydroelectric 68.3 GWh, and photovolta...

  As you know, my purpose in this project is to help investment managers recognize the ethical, scientific, investment, and economic errors in the ESG movement and thus the risks to reputation, regulation, and business that companies have adopted. I believe that when the public and regulators eventually get around to identifying the truth, some investment managers will have a great price to pay and with the investment management portion of my business entrusted to mutual fund managers this damage can spill over onto me even though I don’t use any products with an overt ESG slant. In my weekly clippings I almost completely focus on issues related to the dominant aspect of ESG – climate and energy – but I have similar concerns in the Social and Governance areas that receive far less attention by ESG investment products and I believe do less damage to investors and humanity. This week in the Science category I have two articles that reference the IPCC: in the first case it is an exa...