Hello everyone, great to have your company on Kalkine TV. I'm Rachael and you’re
watching Buzzing Trends. In the first segment today we’ll be looking at those ASX listed stocks
which are planning to cut their carbon emissions. In the first segment we’ll look at BHP’s
plans to sell its petroleum businesses to Woodside. And in the last segment we’ll look
at some ASX stocks that have created specific strategies to cut down greenhouse gas emissions.
Mining giant BHP Group has confirmed it’s reassessing the future of its petroleum business and is
in talks with energy giant Woodside Petroleum. Speculations have been rife for the last few weeks
that BHP Group is weighing a move to retreat from the emission-related fossil
fuel business by selling its global oil and gas business. Reacting to the rumours, BHP
has made an announcement, stating that it’s initiated the strategic review of the company’s petroleum
business, re-evaluating its long-term strategic fit in the company's portfolio. As confirmed
by BHP, one of the options on the table, was to combine BHP’s petroleum business with
Australia's leading independent gas producer Woodside petroleum - in exchange for shares - and
talks for a potential deal are underway. Oil and gas companies have been constantly
facing investor pressure for quite some time now regarding the production and contribution
of fossil fuels to global warming. The demand for high emissive fuels has fallen in the
past few years due to higher emphasis on green fuels, a move which aims to curb climate
change.
Additionally, the introduction of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)metrics into the
industry has exerted additional pressure on fossil fuel producers as the metrics have become
a popular way for investors to evaluate companies they’re willing to invest in. As a result, big resource
companies across the globe have come under increased pressure to realign their business portfolio
to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Recently, BHP sold its interests in the Colombia-based
Cerrejon mine to Swiss miner Glencore and is in talks to sell the remaining coal assets
in NSW’s Mt Arthur asset. Meanwhile, in May 2021, the International Energy Agency also
warned investors to dodge funding on new oil and gas projects, to achieve the goal
of the international Paris Agreement, and to limit the increase of the global
temperature to 1.5 degree Celsius.
In a recent survey conducted by Invesco Global, about one-third of central banks and sovereign
wealth funds have been known to gravitate towards reshaping their mandate on issues
like carbon emissions and inequality in the responses submitted by them. About
63 percent of central banks that participated in the survey have said that dealing with the
issue of climate change falls under their experience. Around half of the central
banks that participated in the survey, think climate change should be tackled by making
it a part of the objectives regulated through monetary policy. The European central
bank for one has announced recently that it will assign higher weightage to climate
change related issues while making key policy decisions. Since the last Invesco
survey in 2019, the number of central banks which responded to the question about having specific
Environmental, Social, and Governance policies – have increased to more than 50 percent now in the current
survey, compared to 44 percent in the survey conducted earlier. On that note,
its time for a short break but stay tuned with me as I’ll be back to share some ASX-listed stocks
that have strategies to reduce carbon emissions. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Welcome back, I'm Rachael and you’re watching Buzzing Trends. Now, let’s look at some
ASX-listed stocks that have strategies to reduce carbon emissions. The first company
on our list is Suncorp Group. Suncorp is an insurance group which deals in personal
insurance, commercial insurance, general insurance, and banking products. Suncorp is said to be serious
about its sustainable development goals through tracking and reducing its greenhouse gas emissions
by 51 percent till 2030.
Moving on Origin Energy is an integrated energy company, that’s engaged in energy
retailing, power generation, and natural gas production businesses in Australia, New Zealand,
and internationally. Origin is the first energy company to have its emissions reduction
targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative - which is known to drive
ambitious climate action in the private sector by enabling companies to set science-based
emissions reduction targets.
This is to reduce its direct greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent and emissions
caused by its value chain by 25 percent by 2032 - and be completely carbon neutral
by 2050.
Moving on the next company, SkyCity Entertainment states that it’s committed to reducing
its carbon emissions by 38 percent by 2030 - and its greenhouse gas emissions
by 73percent by 2050.
Another commitment is that by 2023, 67 percent of its total spending on food and beverages will come from companies
with science-based emission-reduction targets.
Next on the list is Dexus Property. Greenhouse gas emissions by the construction and operation
of buildings makes up to 25 percent of Australia’s total carbon emissions. As
a real estate company, Dexus plans to reduce its direct carbon emissions by 70 percent
by 2030, whereas in case of value chain’s emissions, it has committed to reducing
25 percent of those by 2030.
Around 25 percent of Australia’s carbon and greenhouse gas emissions come from the
construction, operation and maintenance of buildings. According to Dexus, it’s now
working on reducing those caused by its own buildings. The ASX 200 real estate group
has concrete plans to reduce its direct carbon and greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent by
2030. It has also pledged to reduce its value chain’s emissions by 25 percent by 2030.
The bottom line is fossil fuel producers across the globe are in the hot seat as the world
is racing towards a green future. To reduce global greenhouse emissions, fossil fuel firms
are under mounting pressure to limit their production, thanks to burgeoning pressure
from investors and the introduction of Environmental, Social, and Governance metrics
into the industry. With that, It’s time to wrap up today’s show. I hope you found
today’s show informative - stay tuned for more news and updates on Kalkine TV Live.
This is Rachel signing off.