TWH – The United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow and the process of finding common ground to combat climate came to a close 24 hours later than scheduled and to the disappointment of many. The conference secured many pledges but produced only a partial agreement, with many but not all countries pledged to stop releasing greenhouse gases from coal by the 2040s.
Unfortunately, several key players in the coal industry failed to pledge – Australia, China, India, and the U.S., all failed to join the pledge. Even today, the Biden administration is holding what is described as a historic sale of gas and oil leases. Nevertheless, with rising gas prices, several nations have coordinated the tapping of their strategic oil reserves, an act that is not likely to do much to change gas prices but will continue to underscore the global addiction to fossil fuels.
Image credit: Pixabay
Even before the Glasgow global summit, many individuals concerned were exploring strategies to address the climate crisis. This article focuses on two of them. One strategy concerns investment divesting from fossil fuel investments. The other concerns the controversial technique of genetic modification of food crops to deal with drought.
While many Pagans might be sympathetic to divesting from fossil fuels, there may be less enthusiasm to embrace the genetic modifications of food crops.
Public Sector Pension Funds as a tool
In August, the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies (HBCLS) released a report, “Power in a Pension: Labor, Private Equity, and the Climate Crisis. A report on private equity’s fossil fuel assets, the role of labor’s retirement capital, and the impacts on marginalized communities and the environment.”
The report questions the fiscal prudence of investing in fossil fuels. When a union invests its member’s pension funds, it carries a heavy fiduciary burden. Union workers pay part of their salary into a pension fund, and then the union invests those funds to grow over time and outpace inflation.
HBCLS reported that public-sector unions have 20 million members. Those members include “teachers, public finance professionals, landscapers, firefighters, and others.” Public sector pension funds amount to roughly $4 trillion.
Unions invest these funds in publicly traded stocks and bonds, as well as private equity funds. Private equity funds differ from publicly traded funds. They face fewer regulations than publicly traded funds do, and fewer regulations often make them less transparent.
HBCLS argues that private equity firms rely heavily on debt financing. They also engage in aggressive cost-cutting measures. Under pressure, publicly traded companies have withdrawn funds from investments in fossil fuels. Shielded by their lack of transparency, private equity firms face much less pressure.
For example, HBCLS reported that the Blackstone Group, a private equity firm, claims that, “Environmental, Social and Governance principles have been integral to Blackstone’s corporate strategy.” Yet, in 2017, Blackstone invested $1.6 billion in the Rover natural gas Pipeline, a 1126.5-km (700-mile) pipeline, with all the problems of pipelines.
Are fossil fuels a bad investment?
HBCLS said that companies and political entities have begun phasing out fossil fuels. At the same time, renewable energy sources have become less expensive. The United Kingdom has required that all cars sold after 2030 must be a hybrid. California has banned the sale of gasoline-only powered cars after 2035. In January 2021, General Motors announced that it would phase out internal combustion engines by 2035.
Paul Finch of the British Columbia General Employees’ Union conducted a risk analysis for fossil fuels investments. As a result of that analysis, Finch pulled $20 million out of fossil fuel equities and bonds in 2014. Since that divestment, his union has earned 12.5% per year on its investments.
Public sector union members face another problem. In the US, state governments have to pay to clean up environmental disasters. That would mean less money for raises and health care for public sector workers.
Mitch Vogel of the Illinois State Universities Retirement (ILSURS) system spoke about a private equity firm. ILSURS had invested in that firm. It ran an old Goodyear rubber plant, near the Illinois River. LSURS, however, learned about the private equity firm’s plans for those great returns. Those plans included laying off the plant’s union workers and dumping toxic waste into the Illinois River.
Vogel said, “We decided not to invest in non-renewable energy investments that were detrimental to the whole society.” ILSURS withdrew its funds.
In the HBCLS report, it cites that Deloitte, a global provider of financial and risk advisory and related services, forecast a continued decline of as much as 4-7% based on reporting by independent energy research and analytic firm, Rystad Energy.
British Petroleum in their “Energy Outlook 2020” projected that the use of fossil fuels would continue to decline over the next 30 years, with less expensive renewables replacing fossil fuels.
Demand and also prices for oil dropped dramatically during the height of the pandemic in 2020. And while demand and prices were expected to recover somewhat, 2019 was likely the peak in both.
According to the HBCLS report, “In February 2021, Royal Dutch Shell joined other oil majors in saying that the world reached peak oil production in 2019, and going forward, it expects annual declines.”
Investing in fossil fuels threaten indigenous people
HBCLS discussed a private equity firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). It had invested $6.6 billion deal to construct the Coastal Gas Link pipeline (CGL). The pipeline would go through the Wet’suwet’en Nation in British Columbia, Canada.
The Wet’suwet’en Nation has resisted this violation of their sovereignty. For at least one year, they have delayed pipeline construction. That delay costs KKR money. HBCLS noted that this resistance makes investment a less prudent investment for union pension funds.
Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham), spokesperson for the Gidimt’en checkpoint on Wet’suwet’en territory, spoke about how her Nation never consented to CGL’s construction. It would run through Wedzin Kwah, the headwaters of the watershed of the Wet’suwet’en Nation.
Sleydo’ said that the CGL pipeline threatens the spawning of Pacific coho salmon. She said “If this pipeline goes through, it will destroy our ability to drink the water from our river forever. It will disrupt our salmon populations … Our children and our grandchildren might never ever be able to taste the salmon that is integral to who we are, as a nation.”
Atacama plants adaptability and genetic alteration
Climate change models predict increased aridity in parts of the world. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) published a related article, “Plant ecological genomics at the limits of life in the Atacama Desert.”
The article described an observational study of the genetics of vegetation in one of the aridest points on earth. Researchers identified specific genes that allowed the plants to adapt to extremely arid conditions.
For example, scientists could use genome editing technology to make crops more drought-resistant.
Typical landscape of the Atacama Desert, the most arid place in the world, 50 kilometers (31 mi) northeast of Calama, Chile – Image Credit: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0]
The Atacama Desert in Chile is the driest desert on the planet outside of the polar ice caps. About 50% of all precipitation occurs within five days in January and February. Besides the aridity, the Atacama also has large temperature variations within one day. Plants in the Atacama had to adapt to an extremely dry and hostile climate.
One of the authors of the PNAS journal article, Biologist Gloria Coruzzi told Sciencealert.com, “In an era of accelerated climate change, it is critical to uncover the genetic basis to improve crop production and resilience under dry and nutrient-poor conditions.”
Scientists learn about differences by comparing two groups. They were looking for the genes that allowed the Atacama plants to adapt to the harsh environment. The PNAS article reported that researchers sequenced the genes of 32 plants from the Atacama. These genes formed one group, the “dry” group. For the other group, they needed genes from closely related plants that lived in wetter environments. Scientists have already sequenced many plants’ genes. Genes from plants that live in wet environments formed the “wet” group. Genetic differences between the two groups could identify the adaptive genes.
The scientists found 265 genetic differences. Not all these differences would confer an evolutionary advantage for desert life. Some differences would. Fortunately, a few of those adaptive genes were identical to genes in a highly studied plant species, Arabidopsis. For that species, scientists have learned the genetic function of many of its genes. Some of those genes increase survival in the event of intense sunlight and temperature stress. Others were “critical for water and nutrient uptake.”
This discovery suggests a technical, if somewhat controversial, way to increase drought resistance in food crops. Chilean biologist Rodrigo Gutiérrez told ScienceAlert that “As some Atacama plants are closely related to staple crops, including grains, legumes, and potatoes, the candidate genes we identified represent a genetic goldmine to engineer more resilient crops, a necessity given the increased desertification of our planet.”
Not everyone will likely be comfortable with the idea of genetic modification of food crops, and some may even be horrified. Delays or failure to address climate change on any number of levels are likely to narrow the choices available to mitigate the impact. Maintaining a food supply necessary to support human and animals populations may rest on the ability to genetically modify plants to meet those demands as the climate continues to warm and change.
The HBCLS report is based on a forum. That forum is now available as a YouTube video.
Editorial Note: Manny Tejeda-Moreno contributed to this article.
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