It’s COVID *and* climate, not either or.
Before we get to the money: stay home, stay safe, and best wishes.
It’s tempting to assume the recent financial and media focus on climate is cancelled and reprogrammed to COVID and the economy caving. An either or scenario makes sense if one assumes that it is financial returns vs. environment (‘give up value for values’). However, that is of course not the case as I’ve proven out through my work here and is well documented by Bloomberg on a day-to-day bases here.
COVID and climate are both plagues on our society and economy. They both threaten the most vulnerable we all seek to shelter. And neither are black swan events.
A global pandemic and the climate crises both:
- are obvious and large;
- global, threatening international supply chains;
- are in a positive feedback loop.
Pandemics should drive more focus to environmental issues, not distract from it. Pandemics and environment/climate are locked in their own twisted dance:
- poor communities with poor air quality are more susceptible to respiratory diseases (e.g. COVID);
- vector (mosquitoes, ticks etc.) born diseases (e.g. Zika, Lyme) increase in a hot, wet world (thank you, global heating);
- deforestation and wild animal trafficking helped lead to Ebola and COVIA, respectively.
The climate crises is what Finance calls a secular trend. It will continue through and after COVID. An ESG professional’s job is to balance the immediate financial imperative with long-term environmental and social trends. Now, more than ever, we can guide business through the intersection of finance and society.
