“This rather old saying, ‘chickens have come home to roost’, is normally used to mean that the bad things that someone has done in the past have come back to bite or haunt the individual. In other words, you are telling someone that he has to face the consequences of the deeds done in the past — though he may have committed them a long time ago.”

 

Does it really matter the reason that the financing for the fossil fuel industry is vanishing right before our eyes?  The fact is that it’s happening and at an ever increasing pace.  This process is not going to be linear either but rather exponential. The changes that are coming will be fast and furious.  Others may be reluctant to say this or just not see it happening in this manner.  But this is the way I see it and I’m not afraid to say so.  The industry is doomed and it is happening sooner rather than later.  We are rapidly approaching a cliff over which it will plummet.  There’s no future in fossil fuels so no one wants to finance or invest in the industry.  Investors around the world are rapidly awakening to this reality even without new government actions.  But government regulations and laws are only going to accelerate this momentum.  

 

 

“Financing for coal projects is drying up at ever increasing rates as more countries target zero carbon emissions amid an energy transition sweeping the world

The exit from coal by big international banks and government-backed agencies, which has accelerated this year…

With insurance companies, banks and other financiers pulling out of coal “we are seeing a real tide of all these forces moving in capital markets,”…

“What’s changed more recently is we have seen China, Japan and South Korea all commit to net-zero carbon emissions targets,”

 

It’s not just the coal business either.  

 

“Bank of Montreal is winding down its U.S. oil and gas investment banking business”

 

“BMO is the latest bank to halt investment banking tied to U.S. oil and gas explorers, which even before the pandemic were facing pressure after years of generating meager returns.”

 

Unfortunately many governments, communities and individuals are going to suffer from this transition through no fault of their own and we simply MUST find ways to help make the move to a renewable energy future.  

From Reuter’s

As More Countries Pledge Zero Emissions, Coal Finance Evaporates

NOVEMBER 24, 2020
Aaron Sheldrick & Fransiska Nang

TOKYO (Reuters) – Financing for coal projects is drying up at ever increasing rates as more countries target zero carbon emissions amid an energy transition sweeping the world, participants at Asia’s biggest gathering of the coal industry said on Tuesday.

The exit from coal by big international banks and government-backed agencies, which has accelerated this year, is likely to push coal companies to use offsets to get funding and listed ones to go private to avoid shareholder pressure as the dirtiest fossil fuel is increasingly shunned.

With insurance companies, banks and other financiers pulling out of coal “we are seeing a real tide of all these forces moving in capital markets,” Lachlan Shaw, head of commodities research at ANZ, said at the virtual Coaltrans Asia conference.

“What’s changed more recently is we have seen China, Japan and South Korea all commit to net-zero carbon emissions targets,” he said.

Carbon trading and offsets will become important tools companies to get finance for new projects, so they “can go to the financial markets and say we have a package here that is totally offset from a carbon emissions point of view,” he said.

Shaw said he expects more public listed companies to go private as shareholders focus more on the risks to investments from coal.

Even cleaner projects such as a coal gasification plant in Indonesia under consideration by coal miner PT Bukit Asam will struggle to obtain finance, said Ben Lawson, vice-chairman of the Djakarta Mining Club and chief operating officer of PT Sanaman Coal Indonesia.

“Even though gasification is the cleanest way of extracting power or downstream product for coal, its still coal,” he told the conference. To get financing, “I think its going to be a hard sell.”

(This story refiles to correct spelling of Sanaman in second-last paragraph)

Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick; editing by David Evans

 

From Bloomberg

BMO to Exit Oil And Gas Investment Banking in the U.S.

November 30, 2020

Bank of Montreal is winding down its U.S. oil and gas investment banking business and will focus on assets in Canada going forward, becoming the latest financial institution to cut ties with America’s beleaguered shale industry.

BMO said it has made “the financial decision for an orderly wind-down of our non-Canadian investment and corporate banking energy business.” Going forward, the company said by email, its capital markets energy business will be focused on Canada.

The company is eliminating about 50 positions in its investment banking group as part of the exit that was announced to staff on Monday, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. A handful of corporate bankers will manage BMO’s U.S. oil and gas loan book, the person said.

BMO is the latest bank to halt investment banking tied to U.S. oil and gas explorers, which even before the pandemic were facing pressure after years of generating meager returns. The move didn’t appear to be related to ESG concerns plaguing fossil fuel companies. America’s shale industry has been swept up in a wave of consolidation in recent months as the pandemic slashes oil demand, drags down prices and forces low-premium mergers. That follows years of lackadaisical M&A activity in the oil patch.

On Tuesday, BMO reported gross impaired loans in its U.S. oil and gas portfolio of C$457 million at the end of its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with only C$93 million for the industry in Canada and other countries.

BMO’s U.S. oil and gas loan book was about $5.4 billion (C$7 billion) as of July 31, making up half of its overall oil and gas loans, according to a previous company presentation.

For ESG data on BMO, click here.

— With assistance by Derek Decloet

 

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