Episode 146: Interview with Mark Campanale, Founder of the Carbon Tracker Initiative

Carbon Tracker Initiative’s Mark Campanale provides fresh insights into the dangerous phenomenon of stranded assets –according to the IEA: “ investments which have already been made but which, at some time prior to the end of their economic life, are no longer able to earn an economic return.” Mark explains why it is taking so long for capital markets to reflect the real value of fossil fuel companies—and what’s at stake here-- how we are funding climate chaos through our pension schemes and banking system. Mark discusses the economics of investment in fossil fuel compared to renewables, the power and influence of the fossil fuel industry, and his latest work focus, including important work on the Fossil fuel Non Proliferation Treaty.

Mark Campanale is the Founder of the Carbon Tracker Initiative, a non-profit think-tank launched to pin-point with clarity how global capital markets have failed to deal with climate risk. Mark developed the ‘unburnable carbon’ capital markets thesis – the idea that there are substantial fossil fuel energy sources which cannot be burnt if the world is to adhere to the necessary carbon budgets to limit global warming. Campanale also co-founded Planet Tracker, another think tank, which provides in-depth financial analysis around natural ecological barriers to growth faced by financial markets. His work seeks to raise awareness of ‘value-at-risk’ to the financial community, and engages institutional investors and analysts to unlock and redirect the transformative power of capital markets to deliver on sustainable development objectives.