Two stories here, one describing the problem, one addressing part of the solution.
First, a new study by Nasa shows yet again that global industrial civilisation could collapse in coming decades, just as many previous empires and civilisations have done.
Echoing Jared Diamond (TED talk here, synopsis here) they find the key factors driving the risk of such collapse are “Population, Climate, Water, Agriculture, and Energy.”
If we want to avoid collapse, these are the factors we need to focus on, and steer away from reaching their critical levels.
The good news is that one more major organisation is taking those necessary steps.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is the largest in the world. The fund was largely built out of income from the country’s oil and gas reserves. Now Norway’s prime minister has said they will invest more of the $840bn fund in renewable energy. At the same time they are looking to reduce investments in fossil fuels, just as they have previously disinvested from tobacco, nuclear weapons, and companies in breach of human rights.
Full details of the investment mandate will be delivered on April 4th.