{"id":241097,"date":"2023-05-05T20:25:44","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T14:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=241097"},"modified":"2023-05-05T20:25:44","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T14:55:44","slug":"greenwashing-esg-backlash-and-transitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/greenwashing-esg-backlash-and-transitions\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenwashing, ESG backlash and transitions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Source<\/strong>&#8211; The post is based on the article <strong>\u201cGreenwashing, ESG backlash and transitions\u201d <\/strong>published in the <strong>\u201cBusiness Standard\u201d <\/strong>on <strong>5th May 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Syllabus: <\/strong>GS3- Environment<\/p>\n<p><strong>Relevance<\/strong>&#8211; Climate change related issues<\/p>\n<p><strong>News<\/strong>&#8211; The article explains the increasing focus on green transition and phasing out of fossil fuels across the world and India.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How is there increasing focus on phasing out of fossil fuels across the world?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>In New York<\/strong>, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the first<strong> state-wide ban<\/strong> on the <strong>use of natural gas in new buildings<\/strong> for heating or cooking this week.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>financial industry<\/strong> is also gradually moving away from <strong>fossil fuel financing<\/strong>. Analysis by <strong>BloombergNEF<\/strong> shows that the <strong>ratio of financing between low carbon energy and fossil fuels<\/strong> should be at least <strong>4:1 by 2030<\/strong> to meet the 1.5\u00b0C climate goal.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bank financing<\/strong> for energy supply totalled <strong>$1.9 trillion in 2021<\/strong>. Of that, <strong>$842 billion<\/strong> went to low-carbon energy projects and companies, and<strong> $1.038 trillion <\/strong>went to fossil fuels.<\/p>\n<p>The ratio is likely to improve. A host of banks publicly announcing their <strong>climate transition plans. <\/strong>Banks that have unveiled plans in 2023 include Citigroup, Spain\u2019s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria and NatWest Group in the UK. HSBC intends to do so later this year.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How are the measures to phase fossil fuels facing backlash in the US?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There is backlash against as many as 11 large financial institutions that <strong>boycott the oil and gas industry<\/strong> in some states of the USA. As per a recent bill, Florida\u2019s public or state-controlled funds can no longer invest their money based on<strong> environmental, social and governance factors<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The law broadly directs all Florida pension funds to prioritise returns without <strong>considering factors in investment decisions. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Over a dozen states in the US have enacted <strong>anti-ESG-related bills or policies<\/strong>, while many have similar proposals in discussion.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the way forward for green energy transition in India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>India\u2019s CO2 emission level may rise from <strong>2.7 gigatonnes to 3.9 gigatonnes by 2030. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>India\u2019s <strong>green transition<\/strong> would require a <strong>multi-pronged action plan<\/strong>, the Reserve Bank of India said in its report on currency and finance released earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>A <strong>number of policy actions<\/strong> are required. It comprises a <strong>carbon tax<\/strong> of rupee equivalent to $25 per tonne, increasing the <strong>share of non-fossil fuel in the energy mix. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There is a need for <strong>more production and use of EVs, electric vehicles and green hydrogen, and regulatory measures<\/strong> to incentivise resource allocation for green projects.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are some regulatory actions taken in India for green transition?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Securities and Exchange Board of India mandates<strong> ESG disclosures<\/strong> for the top 1,000 companies.<\/p>\n<p>It has raised concerns about making <strong>false, misleading, unsubstantiated, or incomplete claims<\/strong> about the <strong>sustainability of a product, service, or business operation. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It asked issuers of <strong>green debt<\/strong> to ensure that funds mobilised are used for the stated purpose, and the <strong>negative externalities<\/strong> associated with usage of the funds are quantified.<\/p>\n<p>A <strong>consultation paper on ESG disclosures, ratings and investing<\/strong> has subsequently been issued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source&#8211; The post is based on the article \u201cGreenwashing, ESG backlash and transitions\u201d published in the \u201cBusiness Standard\u201d on 5th May 2023. Syllabus: GS3- Environment Relevance&#8211; Climate change related issues News&#8211; The article explains the increasing focus on green transition and phasing out of fossil fuels across the world and India. How is there increasing&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/greenwashing-esg-backlash-and-transitions\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Greenwashing, ESG backlash and transitions<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[10503,216],"class_list":["post-241097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-business-standard","tag-gs-paper-3","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241097\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}