We are running out of time - EthicalMarkets.com

The latest report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is grim. The atmosphere is already almost 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) hotter than it was at the start of the industrial revolution and on track to rise 3 degrees by 2100, according to the report. That’s double the pace targeted under the 2015 Paris climate agreements endorsed by almost 200 nations. Even a rise of 1.5 degrees would have massive consequences, including a “multi-meter rise in sea levels” over hundreds to thousands of years and a mass extinction of plants and animals. We are running out of time. —Josh Petri

“Modern bioenergy is the overlooked giant of the renewable energy field.”

—Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director. The world could install over one trillion watts of clean energy by 2023.

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The world must invest $2.4 trillion in clean energy every year through 2035 and cut the use of coal to almost nothing by 2050 to avoid the damage predicted in the UN’s latest report.

The report calls for the adoption of carbon markets, but stopped short of setting a price. So how high should that price be? Estimates range from $20 to $27,000 per metric ton.

Farming food crops of all kinds is likely to become more difficult as global temperatures increase, depressing yields for corn, soybeans, rice and wheat.

Of course, catastrophe for the masses is an opportunity for the few. Investors are testing strategies to take advantage of the signs of climate change.

Hurricane Michael became the strongest storm to hit the U.S. mainland since 1992—and one of the four most intense in history—with winds that reached 155 miles per hour as it smashed the Florida coast. About 375,000 people live in areas covered by local evacuation orders, and the storm is expected to cause as much as $16 billion in damage.