A few years ago Taittinger purchased a plot of land and planted its first vines in Kent. This popular champagne brand believes it can produce a high quality sparkling wine in the South of England. There are a number of reasons why they have done this, but one of them is because England is warming up, which is good for the grape ripening process but not so good for the world.
The earth is warming fast predominantly through the vast emissions of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide absorb infrared radiation from the sun and trap heat like the glass of a greenhouse. More and more carbon is spewing into the air and the atmosphere as a result is getting hotter.
This is likely to get worse before it gets better, but there is change afoot.
Firstly, politicians are waking up. Eight of the World Economic Forum’s top 10 global risks for 2020 were environmental. There were none ten years ago. Although action being taken by individual countries is inconsistent, some are moving a lot faster than others.
Significantly, China has announced its intention to become carbon neutral by 2060. This is big news as China is by far the world’s biggest emitter. Change is happening on a global scale.
Politicians are also in agreement that carbon emissions need to be made far more costly, via taxes and other means. Not good news for the likes of BP and Shell.
A further development is that the cost of renewable energy is plunging, putting much of the fossil fuel industry under threat. The cost of solar and wind electricity is at a fraction of what it was a decade ago. Furthermore, developments in the electrification of the worlds cars is proceeding at a pace which will drastically lower future emissions. With increasing competition and enhancements in these areas most fossil fuel and related areas will be severely undermined and probably wiped out.
A third factor that will help to reduce carbon emissions will be around our behaviour. Over time I believe we are going to want increasingly more sustainable products – cardboard bags, plastic free packaging and electric cars to name a few. Linked to this, there is also going to be greater demand for investment solutions which cut out the ‘dirtiest’ companies and focus on ‘cleaner’ companies with higher sustainable credentials.
Sustainable consumer products is where the growth is and this growth is set to continue to rise. Companies that don’t consider their environmental impact will be in the minority and will lose market share and fall by the wayside if they don’t change their ways. Their share price is likely to fall as well.
This de-carb drive is going to speed up over the coming years and we will likely see a gradual levelling out and fall in the world’s emissions.
What this means for Taittinger’s project on the South coast who knows – but I don’t think we’ll see them growing grapes in Scotland anytime soon.