Remember when Bank of America promised to stop financing coal mining? They weren't the only ones getting cold feet about this formerly dominant energy source. Now The Guardian is reporting that Deutsche Bank is committing to end financing of new coal mining and new coal-fired power plant construction.
This pledge is being made, says the bank, to back up its commitment to supporting the Paris Climate Deal. But it is also, most likely, a very prudent investment decision. With India phasing out new coal plant construction years earlier than recommended, China reducing its pipeline too, and huge utilities and whole countries alike saying they are pretty much done with coal, it's getting increasingly hard to see where the future for this industry lies.
It seems the age of fossil fuels may be drawing to a close.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Saturday February 04 2017, @02:11AM
Indeed, even someone who denies global warming can realize that fines particles and radionucleides are working against coal.
The cumulative health cost is high enough...
Unfortunately, a global warming denier will probably also deny problems with particulates, radionucleides and health costs.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Saturday February 04 2017, @02:40AM
Just tell him that they interfere with his medications [cnn.com].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @03:34AM
Do you have any evidence for that, dear lover of facts, science, and your own intellect?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @03:36AM
Let's not forget that it was the global warming alarmists who promoted "Clean Diesel" to avoid a little CO2 but burden our cities with particulates, nitrous oxides, and smog.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @04:07AM
In fact, the various standards for modern diesel cut down on all of those pollutants. It was the corporations who chose to circumvent those standards for their own profit that were the problem. What's worse, actively breaking the law or just paying their cronies to repeal the laws? [reuters.com] Either way, that doesn't fall on "global warming alarmists" its falls on deeply corrupt global warming deniers.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @06:42AM
OK, so global warming alarmists bought into "Clean Diesel", because they were wearing green-colored glasses. Any rational person with an ounce of technical expertise knew that Diesel was dirty compared to gasoline. Why do you think the pollution standards for Diesel were relaxed in the Euro 1, 2, 3, 4, 5a, and 5b rules [wikipedia.org]? Oh, but Euro 6, which came into effect in September, 2014 made it all better. Only a month later, a report [theicct.org] was published, showing that European Diesel cars were way out of spec.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @06:49AM
There was no "relaxing" there was a steady ratcheting up on the requirements with each new standard.
You keep working backwards from "alarmists" are idiots instead of people working in the real world who had to negotiate with oppositional forces.
It must be very pleasant to be such a useful idiot.