‘Reduced consumption is going to have to be a part of the equation’ for climate action, J.P. Morgan executive warns
The world isn’t cutting carbon emissions anywhere near quickly enough, a senior executive at J.P. Morgan Asset Management told clients this week — and changing that will require far harder choices than most people realize.
In his annual “Energy Outlook” report, Michael Cembalest, chairman of market investment and strategy for the asset management group, wrote that the U.S. needs to reduce its use of carbon much faster — a view he shares with the authors of the Green New Deal, including first-term Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
Yet Cembalest says the advocates of that plan have downplayed the difficulty of achieving their goals. The Green New Deal’s objective of reaching zero net greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. by 2030, he writes, is “not in the realm of the possible.”
“People are not getting the full picture about what’s feasible,” Cembalest said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I think more sacrifices are going to be needed than people still understand.” [Continue reading…]