Jason Thistlethwaite, from the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo, is available to speak about the potential financial risks to the energy economy due to reduced greenhouse gas emission scenarios.

In an agreement with shareholders, Exxon Mobil Corp. has agreed to disclose how global climate change regulations could affect the value of its worldwide energy assets by the end of March. Exxon is the first major energy company to publicly recognize the threat to its balance sheet in a low carbon world. Other energy giants such as Shell, Total and Alberta oil sands player Suncor Energy Corp. are expected to release similar evaluations in the future.

Jason Thistlethwaite is a postdoctoral researcher in climate change risk in the Department of Environment and Resource Studies at Waterloo. He is also the director of the Climate Change Adaptation Project, and is currently researching the financial risks of climate change.

“This is an issue that affects nearly every Canadian. If you own a mutual fund or a pension, chances are you have one of these companies in your portfolio and have a stake in their growth. Like any investor, you also have a stake in knowing that the risks being reported back to are accurate. Legally mandated greenhouse gas reductions are a reality and they will have an impact on fossil fuel consumption. Investments in fossil fuels could be overvalued right now because they do not factor in the impact of those regulations. We saw what happened during the 2008 housing bubble when investors looked the other way during good times. We can’t make that same mistake with a possible carbon bubble.” 

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