Last month I, along with 100 other investment professionals, was invited to Washington, D.C., for the White House Clean Energy Investment Summit, hosted by Vice President Joe Biden. We were asked to invest in solutions for climate change and told about some exciting sustainability changes.
Exciting Developments in Sustainability
Hawaii will use 100% renewable energy by 2030. This means that when you visit Hawaii after 2030, everything will be fueled by hydroelectric, solar, wind and wave (except, perhaps, your gas-fueled rental car).
The chief investment officer of the University of California manages $91 billion in assets and stated that ignoring the vulnerability of fossil fuel investments is a huge risk to an investor’s financial wellness. The UC system is on a mission to divest from fossil fuels over the next 10 years.
Wind energy in the U.S. has tripled since 2009, solar has increased twentyfold, and every 10 minutes another U.S. home goes solar.
Government, Academics and Business Leaders Come Together
The White House announced that institutional investors and foundations, which include Abacus Wealth Partners, have committed $4 billion to fund projects and companies that will reduce carbon emissions. And the U.S. is not alone. China has massive air pollution and is forging ahead with renewable energy projects.
The conference emphasized the collaboration necessary by government, academia and business due to the long time frame and huge cost of energy development. Biotechnology, by contrast, has been much better funded than clean energy because the time frame to success is much shorter.
Right now, renewable energy supplies only 10.5% of our energy needs (1.5% from solar, 9% from wind). But lest we be discouraged by the pace of progress, consider the recent history of energy sources. Before petroleum became commonly used, we relied heavily on the even more unsustainable whale oil!
