News From Davos: US Vows to Throw Weight Behind Climate Change Fight

The US announced its return to the fight against climate change at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry said the country “wasted four years” under the Trump administration, which refused to acknowledge climate change and withdrew from the Paris Agreement in 2017.

“President [Joe] Biden is totally committed to this fight,” Kerry said in a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday. One of Biden’s first actions when he took office was having the US rejoin the Paris Agreement.

Kerry said every country needs to come up with a plan to fight climate change, adding that “genuine scrutiny and measurement” of each country’s plans for emissions reductions is necessary. He also singled out China as having a commitment to reduce emissions that is vague, and a strategy that is opaque.

“China has said they’re going to do something by 2060, but we don’t have a clue really yet how they’re going to get there,” Kerry said. “I hope we will be able to work with China. I hope we will be able to get China to share a sense of how we get there sooner than 2060.”

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And while he acknowledged that “China has done a lot” to fight climate change, he added that the country is also funding coal-fired power plants around the world.

Since taking office last week, Biden has signed an executive order that establishes climate considerations as an essential element of US foreign policy and national security and set a goal for the US to be a net-zero economy by 2050.

“It’s realistic,” Kerry said of the executive order, “and it’s going to be the most massive mobilization of our government around this issue in history.”

Speakers on the panel included Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell; UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed; and World Economic Forum President Børge Brende, among others.

During the discussion van Beurden said that “nobody in their right mind at the moment denies this is an issue,” and added that Royal Dutch Shell, which has been in the fossil fuel business for more than a century, is committed to becoming a net-zero-emissions business by 2050 or sooner.

While Kerry pledged the support the of the US government to fight climate change, he also said he was “looking to the private sector” to help lead the fight.

“Several major asset owners and asset managers have committed to holding by 2050 investment portfolios that add up to net zero,” Kerry said. “That’s going to be gigantic.”

Kerry also mentioned BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and his most recent letter to CEOs, which he said “underscores the change that is bubbling up as corporate board rooms are dealing with ESG [environmental, social, and governance issues] and SDGs [the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals] and there’s a tremendous amount there we can tap into.”

Kerry also said more needs to done to research alternative energy sources, specifically naming fourth generation modular nuclear technology, a relatively new technology championed by Bill Gates and his TerraPower nuclear reactor design company.

“It is zero emissions,” Kerry said. “If it pans out to be able to do what designers say it can do, which is not melt down, not have proliferation challenges, not have waste challenges, then wow.”

Davos Report Says Climate Change Striking Harder than Expected

Op-Ed: Key Takeaways from Davos on China and ESG in a Post-COVID-19 Era

Tags: China, Climate Change, Davos, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Net Zero, Paris agreement, World Economic Forum

Retail investors in popular subreddit r/wallstreetbets have proven they can drive up stocks for GameStop. Now, they’re on the hunt for other social media favorites.

Retail investors in the popular subreddit channel WallStreetBets have proven they can go toe-to-toe with hedge funds to drive up stocks for short seller favorite GameStop—and they’re not planning on stopping there.

Members of the subreddit rejoiced Tuesday, after GameStop shares surged another 92% during trading to a record $148 per share. The foundering video game retailer is now valued at more than $10 billion, despite losing $1.6 billion over almost three years. But organizers are intent on holding their investments, hoping to bleed short sellers who would have to double down on their shares to curtail losses. One hedge fund has already required bailing out of its position.

“I’ve never seen anything like what’s happening with $GME before,” read one Tuesday post on the subreddit, referring to the online discussion version of the firm’s stock ticker. “F*** hedge funds. This is a crosspoint into the future.”

It’s yet another sign of a market that appears to have become frothy. Whether the investors have gone too far is another question. Last week, Goldman Sachs analysts were asked whether the stock market was in a bubble: Their answer was that valuations are “extremely elevated.” But they also assured investors the exuberance of some stocks did not constitute a risk to broader indexes.

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Whether other meme stocks can replicate what is happening with GameStop remains to be seen. Regardless, for social media investors, the revolution is here, it’s overdue, and they have other stocks in their sights:

AMC: All three major US indexes were down Tuesday. Not so for the movie theater chain, which saw shares rise 12% to $4.96 during yesterday’s trading, and it was already up more than 300% by the start of Wednesday’s trading. On Monday, the movie theater chain, most of whose outlets remain shuttered, disclosed that it had secured enough financing, about $917 million, to remain operational this year. The company says it has turned a corner, and it is no longer concerned about imminent bankruptcy, even after many films on the 2020-21 slate have moved online to streaming services. Redditors have been debating whether the stock is the next $GME.

Blackberry: The stock price closed at $18.92 on Tuesday, up 4.9% for the day, and logged another 6.7% surge after trading hours. Shares in Blackberry, the onetime smartphone colossus and now a software outfit, have leveled out after a 28% surge on Monday. The stock has been downgraded by RBC Capital Markets analysts for underperformance. But the company, another Reddit favorite according to Bloomberg, also benefited after disclosing an expanded deal with Baidu, in which the latter would use Blackberry’s operating system in its autonomous cars.

Express: The apparel retailer plunged 27% to $3 per share during Tuesday trading, only to make up all its losses in after-hours trading. It’s also up 234% from the beginning of the year, when shares were selling for less than $1. On Monday alone, it soared 132%, after Redditors plugged the company, hoping it will pan out as the next GameStop.

Nokia: The Finnish consumer electronics and software company dipped 2.4% in Tuesday trading, also regaining losses after hours. Redditors have been driving attention to the business, according to Bloomberg. On Tuesday, the firm announced that it’s ready for a 5G build-out in the US, positioning it as a leader in the Internet of Things revolution.

Palantir: The software company dipped 2.3% during Tuesday trading, and another 3.4% afterward, as Palantir prepared for its Demo Day. A WallStreetBets subreddit favorite, according to InvestorPlace, it has dealt with its fair share of volatility, up 21% just during Monday trading.