John Gibbons: Investors’ slow shuffle away from fossil fuel giants gathering speed

Real climate action is finally happening – and the key driver is, improbably, the global investment community

Fossil fuels will continue for some time to be the world’s dominant energy source, helped by the estimated $5.2 trillion in annual government subsidies globally, but the industry is losing its social licence

The decision to rely on fossil fuels to power civilisation and expand our dominion over the planet means humanity has unwittingly struck a Faustian pact with nature. We have understood the broad terms of this bargain for well over half a century.

In 1965, Lyndon Johnson, the US president, published a report that presciently examined the existential risks involved in uncontrolled fossil fuel burning.

“By the year 2000 the increase in atmospheric CO2 will be ...