Work

Carbon as Investment Risk—The Influence of Fossil Fuel Divestment on Decision Making at Germany’s Main Power Providers

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: German electricity giants have recently taken high-level decisions to remove selected fossil fuel operations from their company portfolio. This new corporate strategy could be seen as a direct response to the growing global influence of the fossil fuel divestment campaign. In this paper we ask whether the divestment movement currently exerts significant influence on decision-making at the top four German energy giants—E.On, RWE, Vattenfall and EnBW. We find that this is not yet the case. After describing the trajectory of the global fossil fuel divestment campaign, we outline four alternative influences on corporate strategy that, currently, are having a greater impact than the divestment movement on Germany’s power sector. In time, however, clear political decisions and strong civil support may increase the significance of climate change concerns in the strategic management of the German electricity giants.

Source: Energies

DOI: 10.3390/en8099620

Authors: Dagmar Kiyar, Bettina Wittneben

Institutions: Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, University of Oxford, Lancaster University

Language: English

Topic: Sustainable Finance and Green Bonds

Subfield: Finance

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Climate action, Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137