Suchergebnisse

While Transition Finance is increasingly entering the sustainable finance discourse, particularly among practitioners, it is often poorly defined, and there is currently no agreed definition in the literature. I propose a definition for Transition Finance and outline some of the potential benefits associated with the use of this definition. I also argue that Covid-19 related stimulus and bailouts, with the attendant increase in government backed financing facilities for counterparties, could ensure Transition Finance is embedded into the design of these financing facilities. Doing so would accelerate the wider adoption and mainstreaming of Transition Finance.

The EU energy system is in the middle of a period of profound change. Financing the transition to a low-carbon EU economy is expected to require $2.2 trillion by 2035, requiring substantial private capital. However, investors are hesitant to commit capital due to many challenges facing the energy system. This review provides a high-level discussion regarding the challenges and the potential solutions to address them. We identify four main challenges: 1) structural challenges and reduced capacity adequacy, 2) an incorrect market framework to value flexibility, 3) the inability to finance the energy transition, and 4) the role of transitional fuels. Against these challenges, four potential solutions are: 1) capacity remuneration mechanisms, 2) demand-side response and consumer empowerment, 3) reforms in emissions trading and renewable subsidies, and 4) improved physical interconnections and governance. The EU's ability to address these challenges will directly impact its position as a global leader in green energy investment.

An increasing number of recently built, high-efficiency combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plants, are being mothballed or prematurely closed across the European Union as profits from gas are eroded by decreased electricity demand, changing fuel prices and depressed carbon prices. This paper examines how major EU utilities are reacting to the impacts of market and policy factors upon the profitability and value of CCGT assets, how these stranded assets are affecting firm value and strategy, and what implications may exist for energy market design, low-carbon energy and climate policy. Market research and financial information is used to quantify the scale and scope of competitiveness impacts on gas-fired power assets and financial impacts of stranded CCGT assets in terms of asset impairment charges, firm valuation, credit ratings and debt quality. A meta-analysis of developments occurring in 2013 illustrates that stranded CCGT assets are playing an important role in the development and implementation of capacity remuneration mechanisms in different EU member states. We find that governance and policy gaps exist at national and EU levels regarding the appropriate treatment of stranded assets. Careful thinking is required on how the economic costs of stranded assets should be valued in the design and implementation of different capacity policies. Examining the potential competitiveness impacts of different capacity mechanisms and their relationships to stranded assets stands is an important research priority.

China's demand for coal is changing as a result of environment-related factors, including environmental regulation, developments in cleaner technologies, local pollution, improving energy efficiency, changing resource landscapes and political activism. We look at how this evolving demand picture could then translate into impacts on the coal price and then on the stranded asset risks faced by coal and coal-related assets in Australia - a country that is a large and growing coal exporter to China.

Caldecott et al. (2013) outlined how different environment-related risks could affect agricultural assets in different ways and on different time scales. These risk factors could be a result of the physical environment, driven by climate change, ecosystem service loss and land degradation, and water scarcity. Economic drivers include political and regulatory change, as well as issues of environmental and social responsibility. They also proposed a typology of different assets in agriculture: natural assets (e.g. farmland water); physical assets (e.g. crops, farm infrastructure); financial assets (e.g. farm loans); human assets (e.g. management practices) and social assets (e.g. networks). Their research found that environment-related factors are material and have the potential to create a significant number of 'stranded assets' in the agricultural supply chain. Stranded assets are assets that have suffered from unanticipated or premature write-downs, devaluations, or conversion to liabilities.1 In this working paper we focus on the environment-related risk factors that can cause asset stranding in the national context of Indonesia's oil palm industry. We have attempted to review what we feel are the most pressing environment-related concerns as well as the international financial efforts to bring greater transparency to the sector. This is an industry that requires close inspection and at times may seem impossible to differentiate, but there are some credible actors making serious efforts to improve th

Protected areas (PAs) are the main strategy to conserve natural values and reduce biodiversity loss. However, with increasing global food requirements, using land for protecting landscapes and species is becoming increasingly difficult to justify. Here, we argue that framing PAs as spatial assets provides an ideal platform for generating investment and increasing their political/cultural resilience. Specifically, we define and characterize PAs in terms of their biophysical, human, infrastructure, institutional and cultural assets, making explicit the forms of value they create and for whom, and identifying types of investment needed to generate value in the medium and long term. These assets can be protected, managed and/or invested in to generate (monetizable and non-monetizable) forms of value. They can also be at risk from a variety of factors. Building on contemporary conservation policy, our asset framework provides an innovative approach to the development and management of PAs in the 21st Century.