Climate Philanthropist George Soros Invests Millions in Coal

The billionaire has previously funded renewable energy and low-carbon initiatives and has called coal a “lethal bullet” for climate change.

Antonio Scorza/Shutterstock

Billionaire climate philanthropist George Soros invested more than $2m (£1.3m) in struggling coal giants Peabody Energy and Arch Coal in recent months, despite having once called the fuel “lethal” to the climate.

Filings with the Securities and Exchange commission show that between April and June this year Soros Fund Management (SFM) bought more than 1m shares in Peabody ($2.25m), the world’s largest private coal company, and 500,000 shares in Arch ($188,000).

The firm, which Soros chairs, bought the large stakes for bargain prices. Peabody and Arch are giants of the US coal sector but have suffered massive declines in recent years, losing more than 98% of their value. SFM made a similar move in 2014 by investing $234.4m in coal and gas company Consol. Those shares were sold off after a few months as gas prices continued to fall.

The Hungarian trading titan is the 29th richest person on earth; according to Forbes he is worth $24.2bn. In 2009, after being convinced by Al Gore of the urgency of the climate challenge, he pledged to spend $1bn of his own money on renewable energy and funded the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) thinktank.

At the time, Soros said: “There is no magic bullet for climate change, but there is a lethal bullet: coal.” A report produced by CPI in June 2014 concluded that transitioning away from coal represented a cost-effective way to reduce emissions. CPI declined to comment on their benefactor’s apparent inconsistency.

Read the rest at The Guardian.

 

from Climate Desk http://ift.tt/1Kqn4jY

The billionaire has previously funded renewable energy and low-carbon initiatives and has called coal a “lethal bullet” for climate change.

Antonio Scorza/Shutterstock

Billionaire climate philanthropist George Soros invested more than $2m (£1.3m) in struggling coal giants Peabody Energy and Arch Coal in recent months, despite having once called the fuel “lethal” to the climate.

Filings with the Securities and Exchange commission show that between April and June this year Soros Fund Management (SFM) bought more than 1m shares in Peabody ($2.25m), the world’s largest private coal company, and 500,000 shares in Arch ($188,000).

The firm, which Soros chairs, bought the large stakes for bargain prices. Peabody and Arch are giants of the US coal sector but have suffered massive declines in recent years, losing more than 98% of their value. SFM made a similar move in 2014 by investing $234.4m in coal and gas company Consol. Those shares were sold off after a few months as gas prices continued to fall.

The Hungarian trading titan is the 29th richest person on earth; according to Forbes he is worth $24.2bn. In 2009, after being convinced by Al Gore of the urgency of the climate challenge, he pledged to spend $1bn of his own money on renewable energy and funded the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) thinktank.

At the time, Soros said: “There is no magic bullet for climate change, but there is a lethal bullet: coal.” A report produced by CPI in June 2014 concluded that transitioning away from coal represented a cost-effective way to reduce emissions. CPI declined to comment on their benefactor’s apparent inconsistency.

Read the rest at The Guardian.

 

from Climate Desk http://ift.tt/1Kqn4jY