How the global fossil fuel divestment push is testing Australia's resolve

You've probably never heard of Rupert Read, the philosophy academic with a collection of colourful waistcoats working in the small British city of Norwich. He's the environmentalist who last month leaked an explosive report by JP Morgan that warned "life as we know it is threatened".

As the world distances itself from the fossil fuel
industry, Australia is stuck in a hard place.

The report, Risky Business: The climate and the macroeconomy, was written by the investment bank's chief economist David Mackie and colleague Jessica Murray. It warned, in no uncertain terms, that burning fossil fuels is warming the planet on a trajectory that will cause famine, displacement, mass species extinction and economic collapse. "Something will have to change at some point if the human race is going to survive," the report said.

Although JPMorgan's brand is water-marked on each of the report's 22 pages, the $US350 billion ($530 billion) banking behemoth initially distanced itself from its findings. Yet only a few days later at its annual investor day in New York City on February 25, it promised to stop financing coal mining, coal power and Arctic oil and gas drilling. It would also offer $US200 billion ($302 billion) to support clean energy and other sustainable projects.

Read the story from The Age by Charlotte Grieve - “How the global fossil fuel divestment push is testing Australia's resolve.”