User:Omygoshogolly/sandbox

I'm about to retitle section 8 as "Policies, politics and finance" and add subsection 8.4 "Finance". My draft of subsection 8.4 includes the following: (for detailed references, see the draft)

Here is the draft for the new subsection 8.4:
 * A paragraph on investor preferences, with these references: - "Do investors care about carbon risk?", Journal of Financial Economics - "The Evolving Landscape of Big Data Analytics and ESG Materiality Mapping", The Journal of Impact and Esg Investing
 * A paragraph on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG), with these references: "Five ways that ESG creates value". McKinsey - "The Best ESG Funds Of July 2022". Forbes Advisor - "It's Not Easy Being Green: Bringing Transparency and Accountability to Sustainable Investing". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
 * A paragraph on carbon credits, with this reference: "What are carbon credits? How fighting climate change became a billion-dollar industry". NBC News
 * Two paragraphs on the transition away from fossil fuels, with these key references: "The big choices for oil and gas in navigating the energy transition". McKinsey & Company - "World's top banks pumped $742 bln into fossil fuels in 2021 - report". Reuters - "Why the divestment movement is missing the mark". Nature Climate Change

Finance
By the end of 2021, investors were expressing a preference for businesses that act to reduce CO2 and methane pollution. Improved ways of handling computer data were beginning to help identify "climate responsible" businesses, governments and other organizations.

The concept of Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) provided businesses with a way to commit to sustainable practices. Many mutual funds, index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have specialized to invest in ESG businesses. In May of 2022 the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) expressed concern that exaggerated or false claims about ESG practices (an example of greenwashing) could be misleading investors.

In addition to conventional forms of financing, carbon credits have provided a unique but sometimes abused way to direct investments into carbon reduction projects.

It’s been difficult to forecast future allocation of investment between non-sustainable and sustainable energy sources. By 2021 oil and gas companies needed to develop new policies and strategies in the face of an uncertain future for fossil fuel use. As of mid-2022 the transition away from fossil fuels was expected to be bumpy, complicated by the Russo-Ukrainian War. Climate action advocates expressed concern that large banks continued to fund expansion of oil, gas and coal.

By autumn 2020, as measured in US dollars, institutional investors managing $14 trillion worth of assets worldwide had committed to sell some or all of their fossil fuel holdings. The Global Sustainable Investment Alliance reported that as of December 31 2019 the equivalent of $35 trillion US dollars were invested in sustainable assets within the 5 major economies of the United States, Europe, Japan, Canada and Australasia.