Leadership for a Low Carbon World

Jonathon Porritt, the Founder Director of Forum for the Future, award winning author and a non-executive director of Wessex Water, was a spokesperson at the Six Senses Eco Symposium (2010) here at Soneva Fushi.  He warned that government inaction in the face of climate change will have a huge impact on the valuation of energy companies such as BP and Shell, saying that panic measure to halt the advance of climate change would mean that energy companies would never be able to exploit up to 75% of their proven reserves.

He said: “It is likely that governments around the world will do the minimum for the longest period of time possible when it comes to fighting climate change. When the impact of global warning becomes even more obvious, they will take panic measures. From an investment manager’s point of view, that is the worst possible scenario.

“It will obviously have a huge impact on the values of investment portfolios around the world because the carbon industries will never be able to exploit their proven reserves on which their valuations are based.”  Mr. Porritt added that the crash in the value of oil and gas companies would have a similar or greater impact on global markets than the credit crunch of 2007.

President Nasheed of the Maldives, who was also speaking at the Exco Symposium, said: “We have a very short window of opportunity. We already have serious issues with coastal erosion. We have 16 islands where we are already relocating people… and increasingly the water table is being contaminated by seawater.”

He added that dwindling tuna stocks was also posing a threat to the Maldives food security.