Investor Group Sets Tough Climate Blueprint for Big Oil

Investors managing more than $10 trillion on Wednesday published an ambitious blueprint for energy companies, seeking to tackle climate change, including sharp cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and a winding down of oil and gas production.
The unprecedented initiative - dubbed the Net Zero Standard for Oil and Gas - details 10 required standards to help money managers compare companies' strategies and understand whether they are aligned with United Nations-backed efforts to reduce global carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, Reuters reported.
Oil and gas companies such as BP and Royal Dutch Shell have published targets and strategies aimed at battling climate change, but the huge variation in scope, definitions and ambition makes analysis and comparison exceedingly difficult for investors.
At the same time, pressure has grown on portfolio managers and banks to ensure that their investments chime with the 2015 Paris accords to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
With the next round of global climate talks taking place in November, concern is growing that too many plans are flaky and unlikely to provide material help by reducing absolute emissions at the rate needed to limit global warming.