HSBC also stated that companies and governments are not "adequately prepared" for climate effects: https://www.businessinsider.com/hsbc-warns-earth-is-running-out-of-resources-for-life-2018-8
The HSBC warning: https://www.gbm.hsbc.com/insights/energy-and-resources/earth-budget-already-spentOne of the world's largest banks says the planet is running out of resources and warns that neither governments nor companies are prepared for climate change.
The world spent its entire natural resource budget for the year by August 1, a group of analysts at HSBC said in a note that cited research from the Global Footprint Network (GFN).
That means that the world's citizens used up all the planet's resources for the year in just seven months, according to GFN's analysis.
"In our opinion, these findings and events show that many businesses and governments are not adequately prepared for climate impacts, nor are they using natural resources efficiently," the HSBC analysts said in the note.
Many banks and asset managers have started factoring climate risks into their decision-making — a move spurred in part by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. But it's far less common to see multinational banks sound the alarm about climate change so explicitly in their equity research.
Earth Overshoot Day, the point in a year at which we use up a year's worth of resources, has been steadily moving forward in time since GFN first started tracking it. In 1970, we "overshot" Earth's resource budget by only 2 days — Overshoot Day fell on December 29, according to HSBC. That date has been pushed up by almost five months since then.
HSBC's note also warned about extreme events resulting from heat, including the wildfires in Scandinavia and broken temperature records around the world.
"As scientists work on attribution analysis for specific events — the general consensus is that climate change is making these events more likely to occur and more severe," HSBC said.
The predicted effects of climate change are starting to become real. Wildfires have torn through California in recent years, and they're part of a worsening trend related to rising global temperatures. Other consequences include increased frequency of hurricanes and flooding, melting ice sheets, and greater numbers ofheat waves.
Recent studies have shown that global temperatures by the year 2100 could be up to 15% higher than the highest projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
According to HSBC, extreme events have severe economic and social costs.
"In our view, adaptation will move further up the agenda with a growing focus on the social consequences," the analysts said.
The world spent its entire natural resources budget for 2018 by 1 August – consuming a whole year’s quota of reserves in just seven months
Our demand for natural resources such as food, forestry and marine products as well as our demand on nature such as carbon emissions and built-up land is analysed by Global Footprint Network, which calculates ‘Earth Overshoot Day,’ when the year’s replenishable means have been consumed.
That day has been arriving ever earlier. In 1970 the year’s resources lasted until 29 December; by the early ’80s they been used up by November and by the end of that decade it was October. The overshoot day first came as early September in 1995 and within a decade it was in August. In 2018, it was the very beginning of that month.
As the ecological deficit grows, the impacts include an inability to support ecosystems – biodiversity and land or marine life – plus natural capital erosion, resulting in lack of freshwater, clean air and soil, as well as climate change.
Extreme events this year have included wildfires and heatwaves. Although seasonal in many countries, large-scale wildfires have appeared in latitudes as far north as Scandinavia and temperature records were broken in some areas.
The general consensus is that climate change is making such events more likely to occur and more severe.
These events have economic implications - asset loss and behavioural changes - as well as human and social implications such as lives lost and livelihoods disrupted. In our view, adaptation to climate change will move further up the agenda with a growing focus on the social consequences as scientists work on attribution analysis for specific events.
These findings and events seem to show that many businesses and governments are not adequately prepared for climate impacts and are not using natural resources efficiently. Companies will be under increasing pressure to be more sustainable – and to disclose their strategies. Investors face pressure to integrate environmental, social and governance policies into investment decisions, while governments provide adequate regulatory frameworks.
