PowerSwitch

Ed Davey boosts argument that companies’ coal, oil and gas holdings will lose value as world moves to cut carbon emissions

Britain’s energy and climate change secretary, Ed Davey, has said companies should be required to disclose their investments in fossil fuels, bringing firmly into the mainstream the idea that climate risk will affect the value of such holdings.

The minister’s call for changes in the financial rules came on the sidelines of UN negotiations in Lima where leaders are working to draft a deal on fight climate change. Davey said it was time to recognise that as economies moved away from fossil fuels as part of that deal, coal, oil and gas were no longer presumed to be a safe financial bet.