TBLI Weekly - April 11th, 2023

Your weekly guide to Sustainable Investment

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Businesses face more and more pressure from investors to act on climate change

Every spring, shareholders in publicly-traded companies get to weigh in on how they’re run. It’s a chance for investors to vote on proposals to shape corporate policies for things like executive pay and political spending. But as the Earth heats up, annual shareholder meetings have become a battleground for activist investors who are pressing companies for more aggressive action on climate change.

This year, shareholders filed around 540 proposals as of mid-February asking companies to address environmental, social and corporate governance issues,?according to Proxy Preview. Resolutions focused on climate change accounted for about a quarter of this year's total, with the number increasing by about 12% from the same point in 2022.

Investors want to know how companies are contributing to rising temperatures, and what they're doing about the problem. They're calling for executives and corporate boards to set targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and then to report on their progress. And they want to know how businesses plan to keep making money as industries are reshaped by the push to cut emissions.

The message to companies is, "set targets, issue plans, give us clear disclosure," says The Very Rev Kirsten Snow Spalding , who leads investor initiatives at Ceres, a nonprofit focused on sustainability. "And all of it is about, how are you addressing the risks and moving towards the opportunities?"

Are shareholder proposals working?

Most resolutions are non-binding, but just introducing them has proven to be an effective tool for activist investors. Last year, shareholders withdrew a record 110 proposals that were focused on climate change after they struck deals with companies,?according to Ceres. Another 15 climate resolutions that went to a vote at various corporations won majority support from shareholders.

"The trend toward climate action is really on the rise," Spalding says.

But the pace of corporate change is slower than activists would like — and what climate science shows is needed. Scientists working for the United Nations?say the planet is on track for catastrophic warming?that will cause more extreme weather. Heat waves, droughts and floods that are fueled by climate change are already inflicting severe economic damage and killing and displacing people around the world.

Some of the worst impacts could be avoided by quickly cutting emissions. Right now, though, emissions aren't falling. Activists say a lot of companies aren't doing enough to address the threat, despite pressure from investors.

Activist shareholders focus on emissions that are hard to measure

Chubb Ltd., a big insurance company, is one of the businesses that activist investors are targeting this year.

Chubb is already?cutting its own greenhouse gas emissions. But, like other insurers, the company doesn't directly produce a lot of emissions. However, some of its clients do. So, Chubb says it's limited its underwriting and investing in coal and oil sands. And the company?said in March?that it will require clients in the oil and gas industry to cut emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

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A New Generation and the Future of Sustainable Computing

The Gen Z generation has grown up with both powerful technology and a keen awareness of environmental impact. How will their perspectives as the new data scientists and stakeholders shape the future of sustainable computing?

The power of computing technology has become essential. We rely on the cloud and data centers in our professional and personal lives, and we look forward to the exciting developments in machine learning and AI. But all that technology demands a delicate balancing act between profit, consumer demand, and security. For a long time, the environmental impact and sustainability of computing technology has been a lesser consideration -- but that is changing.

Generation Z, people born between the late 1990s and early 2010s, are contemplating what their future will look like. Older Gen Zers are already building their careers. And as they picture that future, environmental concerns loom large. A Pew Research Center Study found that 67% of people in the Gen-Z generation think that addressing climate change should be a?top priority to ensure a sustainable planet for future generations.

Gen Z goes by many other names: “digital natives” and “the internet generation” among them. Their knowledge of technology and concern for the environment could bring sustainability into the center of computing conversation. What harm does this technology do to sustainability efforts, and how can it be harnessed to do the opposite?

Several experts talked to InformationWeek about the challenges that we face in the modern computing landscape and the potential solutions that could arise.

Gen Z on the Environmental Impact of Computing: 'A Culture of Waste'

The awareness of the environmental impact of computing technology has grown, but it is easy to understand why it has taken time. “One of the issues inherent in computing is the invisibility of the machinery that makes the magic happen, meaning that it is really easy for these impacts to go unnoticed, and it is very difficult to accurately account for these impacts even if one has a certain level of awareness,” says Bran Knowles, a senior lecturer in data science at Lancaster University.

Knowles was the lead author of a brief,?Computing and Climate Change, for the Association for Computing Machinery. The brief explores the global energy demands of data centers (up 100% over the past 10 years) and the global emissions attributable to the information and communication technology (ICT) sector (1.8%).

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Menindee fish kill may have been partly caused by release of ‘black’ and clean water by authorities, researchers claim

Exclusive:?Satellite analysis shows toxic blackwater flowed into the Darling-Baaka River via the Wetherell outlet two days before the deaths

The worst mass fish kill in living memory, which saw millions of animals floating dead on the Darling-Baaka river near Menindee, may have been contributed to by an alleged failed strategy to release a combination of “blackwater” and clean water by authorities, researchers have claimed.

The researchers, who host a water program on Broken Hill’s local community radio, also allege that?a smaller fish kill?in the same river in February was the result of a similar water release strategy by WaterNSW and should have set alarm bells ringing.

Dan Schulz, a PhD student, and Megan Williams, a radio journalist, used publicly available satellite images from the Sentinel-2 satellite, statements from the Department of Planning and Environment and WaterNSW, and photos and observations from locals about the fish kills to piece together what they allege happened.

They say the satellite images show darker toxic blackwater held in Wetherell Lake was released directly into the Darling-Baaka River via the Wetherell outlet on 14 March, two days before the massive fish kill began. They claim this action has not been acknowledged by water authorities in any publicly available documents.

This outlet releases water from the bottommost layer of Lake Wetherell, where the worst-quality water would have accumulated. According to on-the-ground photos, this outlet was closed on 18 March, the day after the huge fish kills were reported in the media.

Blackwater is a natural phenomenon that occurs after floods due to accumulated debris washing from the floodplain into rivers and lakes. Organic matter breaks down, leading to sharp drops in oxygen levels which can be toxic to fish.

The researchers also allege that water authorities claimed to be releasing “oxygenated water” into the Darling-Baaka River from Lake Pamamaroo, but instead the satellite images show a secondary source of blackwater plume making its way from Lake Wetherell, around the shore of Pamamaroo lake and into the outlet that feeds the Darling.

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Can Generative AI & ChatGPT Help Protect Our Planet?

Have you noticed the increasing impact of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in our society? The November 2022 launch of?ChatGPT, an AI chatbot developed by the Elon Musk- and Microsoft-backed entity OpenAI, skyrocketed this and similar tools into public consciousness.

Many people and companies are now finding intersections between generative AI and sustainability. Could AI tools, including ChatGPT, be applied to the efforts to protect our planet?

What Are Generative AI and ChatGPT?

Generative AI is a type of machine learning technology that builds on the predictive text capabilities you are familiar with in word processing and email applications. Generative AIs use large language models — collections of written, audio, images, and other content — to generate content, including text, code, music, images, and video based on prompts entered by a user.

ChatGPT is?trained on a vast dataset of human-created text, which allows it to generate natural-sounding text. Users can prompt ChatGPT to chat, interpret images, and write jokes, emails, and social media captions, among other things. Its impressive ability to write code based on descriptions of a desired piece of software will help speed software development — and may put some software engineers out of a job. Other generative AI tools are?specialized?for use in creating presentations or generating short videos.

While these tools have many benefits, including the ability to automate tasks and save time, they also have ethical drawbacks. For example, they can plagiarize, be incorrect, and?amplify the biases?of the creators of the data used to train them. As of March 2023, ChatGPT cannot provide reliable information about the world after 2021, when its dataset was collected.

When it comes to generative AI, the possibilities are evolving in real time.

How Is Generative AI Changing Computing?

While the science of AI has been around?since the 1960s, the launch of ChatGPT was a watershed moment that accelerated awareness and uptake of this and similar tools across industries?from marketing to education to law. ChatGPT is now integrated into tools like the Bing AI chatbot and Office365, where it will give suggestions and offer automations. At the same time, Google is introducing?Bard, an Internet-connected chatbot that uses Google’s own generative AI model, called?LaMDA.

AI, which is proficient at identifying patterns in large amounts of data, has long been used to analyze the climate, predict weather, and other types of analysis.?Many startup companies?are using AI in their climate technology.

Generative AI specifically is newer to the game, but it already has a few climate applications. NotCo, a food-tech startup, is?using a patented AI tool named Giuseppe?to generate plant-based recipes for products of animal origin, like milk, meat, and even?mayonnaise, in partnership with Kraft-Heinz. To help people understand climate impacts, researchers from Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms and ConscientAI Labs used generative adversarial networks, a type of generative AI, to?generate imagery that showed how extreme weather patterns can affect people’s homes.

ChatGPT has?already been used to write a draft piece of legislation?to regulate itself and other generative AI. Tools trained on specialized topics could potentially help write or refine environmentally focused legislation in the future. A 2023 study in Environmental Science & Technology?hypothesized various uses?for the generative AI tool. They include helping environmental researchers create digestible summaries of research papers, explain basic research concepts, and bridge a gap in programming skills.

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Virtual Power Plants Bypass Costly Infrastructure Projects And Build Rapport With Stakeholders

Utilities are deploying smaller-scale energy resources rather than building larger projects to supply or deliver electricity. But they are going one step further — gathering the collective energy from such things as battery storage and demand response devices to form “virtual power plants.”

Virtual power plants have the potential to change the energy horizon by harnessing the electricity from local assets and redistributing that power to where it is most needed — all facilitated by cloud-based software that has a full panoramic view. Indeed, this structure beefs up America’s generation and delivery network while avoiding expensive and contentious projects, winning praise from environmentalists.

“Let’s say you are a large utility, and your load is 10,000 megawatts. That’s like 10 nuclear plants or 10 large plants. Instead of relying on those 10 plants, you may be relying on 10,000 units — generation installed across multiple locations. It’s the first-of-its-kind of transition for utilities. The sky is the limit to the capabilities of this,” says Ahmed Mousa, the manager of the utility of the future for the Public Service Enterprise GroupPEG?-0.1%?or PSEG. He spoke during a press event hosted by the?United States Energy Association?where this reporter was a panelist.

Guidehouse Insights says by 2030, decentralized generation will total more than 500,000 megawatts of capacity, while centralized generation will amount to 280,000 megawatts. The market is already deploying more rooftop solar with battery storage than big power plants. Virtual power plants have a bright future because they can orchestrate those assets.

Solar-plus-storage, microgrids, electric vehicles, and demand response can participate. For it to work, the aggregator must guarantee their engagement, and in return, the asset owners — often commercial and industrial customers — will get paid. For their part, utilities can defer investments in capital-intensive ventures such as power plants and transmission lines.

But local lines are still vulnerable

Think of it this way: a centralized coal-fired unit may have a 1,000 megawatt generating capacity of electricity. It is also connected to a transmission network, making it susceptible to cyberattacks or natural disasters. But a distributed energy system, under the umbrella of a virtual power plant, would have 200,000 subsystems. Or, 200,000 5-kilowatt batteries would be the equivalent of one power plant with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts.

For example, New Orleans has eight transmission lines that feed into the city. But Hurricane Ida knocked out all of them in August 2021. The city also hosts about 200 megawatts of onsite generators to keep hospitals and industrial sites operating during mass outages. A virtual power plant configures the onsite generation, battery storage, and demand response with software programs.

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