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Business Daily: 'Unburnable' Carbon

26/09/2013

'Unburnable' Carbon

BBC World Service - Business Daily, 'Unburnable' Carbon

Will oil and coal reserves never be dug up due to fears about climate change?

Will oil and coal reserves never be dug up due to fears about climate change, and are energy firms therefore massively overvalued by the financial markets?

As the world awaits the release of the latest UN reports on climate change, what impact will its forthcoming forecasts have on energy companies? Are coal and oil companies being massively overvalued by financial markets, because the oil and coal reserves that they own will never be dug up and burnt due to fears about global warming. We talk to environmentalist and businessman Jeremy Leggett, who claims that the fossil fuel deposits boasted by these companies are worthless, because to exploit them would cause catastrophic climate change. We also ask an equity analyst from the City whether it is true that investors are failing to take account of this 'unburnable carbon'.

Also in the programme, we speak to John Whelan, the world champion of reversible ploughing about the future of farming.

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