1. Lessons for #cdnpoli from the ruthless capitalists at BlackRock, the biggest investment firm in the world: "The evidence on climate risk is compelling investors to reassess core assumptions about modern finance...."
blackrock.com/corporate/inve…
blackrock.com/corporate/inve…
2. Coal divestment = 1st step: "bc capital markets pull future risk forward, we will see changes in capital allocation more quickly than we see changes to the climate itself. In the near future – & sooner than most anticipate – there will be a significant reallocation of capital"
3. It's not about being nice: "Our investment conviction is that sustainability- and climate-integrated portfolios can provide better risk-adjusted returns to investors." Some concrete steps BlackRock is taking (whether @jkenney likes it or not)
4. BlackRock is "exiting investments that present a high sustainability-related risk, such as thermal coal producers" (worth noting that other investors that started with coal divestment then extended it to oilsands and Arctic oil)
5. BlackRock (not your traditional treehugging outfit) is also "and is "launching new investment products that screen fossil fuels", which Canada should see as an opportunity not a threat
6. Because it's govt, not capitalists who will lead: "Over the next few years, one of the most important questions we will face is the scale and scope of government action on climate change, which will generally define the speed with which we move to a low-carbon economy."
7. They even go a bit #GreenNewDeal-ish: "Governments & the private sector must work together to pursue a transition that is both fair & just – we cannot leave behind parts of society, or entire countries in developing markets, as we pursue the path to a low-carbon world."
8. Ultimately "Companies, investors, & governments must prepare for a significant reallocation of capital" (even if it means stranding fossil fuel assets) because climate change is a bigger threat to the global financial system than all of the financial crises of the last 50 yrs 
9. So the next time oil boosters like @jkenney deride the focus by institutional investors on emissions & climate change as the “flavour of the day” theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta… let's remind him that the smart (and utterly ruthless) money is betting on a transition off fossil fuels
